Howling Wolves
by Saki0112
Summary: Lumi, a Wolf  Anima Kim-un-Kur leaves her wolf pack to enter the world of the humans. She finds out what friendship is and what her attraction to the other Kim-un-kur in the band of friends means.
1. Chapter 1

Again I woke up from underneath a blanket of leaves I was using as a blanket. I am a +Anima, beings with strange animal powers. I am a Wolf Anima and till just last year I was living in the mountains with my pack, a group of mountain wolves. Now I was traveling, the Alpha female and my adoptive mother told me about the large packs of humans at the foot of the mountains and told me I was now old enough to live among them. I have already 15 springs behind me and enough knowledge to live on my own in the mountains. Of course that was just my way of comforting myself when I was lonely, I knew I was going to live with other humans but I had never though that I would leave this early.

"Ah..." I yawned shook myself from the leaves, the ground with my lingering heat I moved to find breakfast. It was roasted snake and berries like it was almost every day, my water was the dew from the leaves and what ever juice I could find.

Every morning was silent and today was no different. I went off using my nose to where I could smell water and decided to make camp there and rest a couple of days.

It was probably early afternoon late morning when I could hear the sound of running water, a waterfall was my first thought until I heard human voices.

"Kim-un-kurs I hate them, they are not only freaky but man are they aggressive. We would have died if you didn't kill this one. It was a + Anima too" a male voice laughed cruelly as I heard a grunt of another male.

"and look, we have this Kim-un-kur alive here and also a + Anima, he'll sell high I tell ya" another male voice said with an equally cruel laugh.

"You'll never break me" the kim-un-kur growled before a slapping sound rang across the silent air.

"You'll never break me" the others mocked. I peeked my head out and saw it was three against one kim-un kur. I could do nothing but watch as they started to kick the kim-un-kur. My blood ran hot as I felt adrenaline pumping though out my body and I struck before I even knew what was happening. I lashed out with my dagger and silently slit the man closest to me and furthest from the Kim-un-kur by the throat.

There was no sound as he fell. I lay him down on the grass silently when I was spotted by another man whom I did not account to be there.

"Kim-un-kur!" he yelled pointing towards me and my bloodied knife. I growled in frustration before I rushed towards the tied up Kim-un-kur and untied him with the agility of a wild wolf.

"She's fast!" the first one hissed.

"but she looks like she will be worth a lot more than the other one we caught. Not only is she a kim-un-kur and by her movements also a + Anima, she is also a young girl" a perverse grin slowly lit up on their faces.

"Can...you...walk?" I asked in slightly broken speech.

"I can, thank you" he said with a nod but I could smell the hurt of his ankle. With little hesitation I changed fully into a wolf and spoke. "Get on...me, I'll...hide you" I said though he shook his head.

"You shouldn't though thank you for helping me. You're hurt too" he nodded to my arm, it must have been when the second man tried to grab me. A large gash was bleeding though strangely I couldn't feel it.

"then...stay here...move when you hear a wolf howling...thrice consecutively with two seconds...in between" I told him and pushed him into a bush my broken language was slightly awkward to hear, even in my ears though he nodded and stayed hidden in the bush.

"My name is Kesti" he yelled and I nodded thinking about my own name.

I howled once to attract the three hunters that were alive.

"AHOOO!" I howled at the top of my lungs like how I howled when I had found my best friend's pup in a tree two years ago.

"there!" yelled and snaps accommodated the thudding of feet as they got closer. I hesitated to move until they saw me but regretted that when I noticed they had guns. I had experience with them when hunters hunted our pack during our breeding season.

"Shoot her!" the second man yelled as the first and fourth man shot at my feet. In a flash I ran noisily making it easier for them to follow me and leave Kesti alone. I growled as branches and leaves whipped my face and skin as I ran as clumsily as possible.

I could guess it was a couple hours though I could still hear the thumping of feet.

"what wrong with people?" I panted aloud when I noticed that these were too heavy to be human feet. Also another noise could be heard though it was muffled by the thumping of these heavy feet. Creaking..

"a wagon!" I thought aloud and just then they came out with a wagon and a panting horse.

"well well well, looks like our little game of cat and mouse ended. " the first man laughed as he brought out a whip.

"I kill you" I said.

"She can talk eh?" the first man ribbed the second.

"Aye and she'll make nice screams" commented the fourth with a cruel glint in his eyes. Fear finally washed over me, I knew I was the best fighter in my pack but even I couldn't take three fully grown men with weapons. Still I unsheathed my dagger and lunged with all my might in my + Anima form. Silver wolf ears sprouted from my head in place of human ones, my nails grew longer and sharper, my teeth also more canine like as a tail emerged from my lower back.

The fight lasted longer than I would ever imagine, lunges, stabs, bites, scratches all these I learned on my own I was unable to kill the second man after the first but the two remaining ones were terribly wounded.

They retreated as I behaved like a mad beast in my attempt to kill the three.

When I was sure I was alone I sunk to my knees and looked at the blood on the ground, some mine; most from the other three. I licked my wounds before I staggered over to the river for a drink when I blacked out and fell into the river.

When I came to, I found myself lying on the other side of the river or should be as there was no stench of blood as strong as it would have been if we were on the same side of the river. I climbed out and noticed my cuts were bleeding massively. I staggered over to the inner forest where there was a light moving, fire it was. Using plain animalistic instinct I moved towards the light when I heard a scream. The scream vibrated into my ear and shook my head. When the scream stopped I realized I was alive.

Remembering Kesti I howled loudly once before counting two heart beats when I howled a second time. Another two heart beats and howled a third time when people came over to where I was. I pulled out my dagger thinking it was hunters but found it was a group of children.

"she's hurt!" a young girl probably 10 said worriedly.

"first you thought Cooro was your dad, then Senri and now her?" a feminine looking boy asked the girl looking annoyed.

"We have to treat her first!" a black haired boy said running over to me. I growled and snapped at his out stretched fingers before seeing his + Anima mark.

"She's an anima" the black haired boy concluded to his companions. "I'm Cooro" he said happily as he nodded friendily.

"I'm Lumi" I answered back and looked over every human whether they were Kim-un-kur, +Anima or anything with suspicion as they moved. I followed them with my eyes before the Kim-un-kur came over and hauled me over his shoulder like a sack.

"Let go ME!" I flailed weakly due to heavy blood loss.

"if you don't want to die, stop moving" the feminine boy said with a scowl as he muttered under his breath "i accept one girl and now another one appears?"

When we got to the camp, Nana as I was informed on the way to camp told us about how she became an +anima. It was truly sad how she became one though I though it was great to be a +Anima other than the constant name calling and hunting.

"um, Husky you'll stay right?" asked Nana to Husky.

"If you look bad because of me then it'll make me look back too...I'll stay." Husky said with a slight blush in the firelight.

It was a couple days when we left off, I was with them after Cooro's consistent pleading. Husky on the other hand seemed to be more lenient to this then he was with Nana. Senri as always was silent.

"Jeez! All we do is camp and camp, I want to sleep in a real bed!" Nana complained after my sixth day entering their group and leaving the river side.

"I like camping" Cooro said happily.

"and it's free" snorted Husky. I looked at Senri wondering if he would voice his thoughts but it seemed like he was waiting for me to say something. I decided this was the right time to ask.

"What is this bed you're always talking about?" I asked. My spoken and written improved greatly as Husky taught me languages.

"a bed is well..." Cooro hesitated.

"it's a thing you sleep in" Huksy sighed.

"Lumi" Senri grabbed my wrist and pointed to the dirt road as he drew a sketch.

"That's not a bed" Nana frowned as she looked at the drawing of a blanket on the ground and another blanket on top.

"a bed is large and comfy, it had large and bounce mattresses and warm sheets. It's made of wood and cloth" Nana explained as she too made a drawing.

"then wouldn't sleeping on leaves be better?" I asked "then other animals can use that as a sleeping spot once we leave and we don't harm the trees" I said.

"but...I want to go to Astar!" Nana changed the subject "the biggest city in the country where the king lives and .." Nana started but Husky stepped in.

"what'll you do when you're there?" he asked the exited little girl.

"I'll ride in a palanquin set with jewels of course" she stated as if it was obvious.

"That's something only a stupid girl would think of" Husky said annoyed at her fantasies.

"What about you Lumi?" asked Cooro.

"See daggers" I said taking out my dagger on my belt, the handle was worn and the blade slightly chipped "or get it fixed" I added.

"you see that is what a normal person would say" Husky said pointing towards me.

"only clever and beautiful girls can ride in palanquins" Nana argued.

"Then you'll never ride in one" Husky teased.

"HUSKY!" Nana yelled. I stopped smelling sweet sap and nectar in the air around us.

I stopped listening as I moved over to one of the trees and put my nose inside a flower only to sneeze when pollen got in my nose. Senri smiled and took one of the small flowers and sniffed it himself though he didn't sneeze and instead ate it.

I laughed as he gave me one to eat. I had to admit it was sweet with natural nectar of the flower. Suddenly bees came around surrounding Cooro.

"Cooro these are beehives this is bad!" Husky yelled too late as the swarm came over to us. Cooro in the midst of the activity he flew away opening his wings and having the bees follow him.

"Cooro!" we all yelled as he disappeared into the sky.

"what if he gets lost?" I asked Husky worried about the young boy who invited me into the group.

"he'll be fine..." husky said though his facial expression didn't seem to say so. We started to walk down into the village when.

"villagers" Senri said pointing to the group of people coming to check on the bee hives. "ask" he said.

"great idea Senri" Nana said before flitting over to them to ask questions.

"are you guys on a family trip or something?" they asked looking at our mismatch group.

"we're looking for a friend" Nana started to tell them about Cooro and what had happened.

"we didn't see him on the way here...don't tell me he left without us!" Husky's worry turned to rage as he thought about Cooro leaving us. I noticed Senri staring at the whispering three villagers. He kept staring at the three so I joined in as I smelt tension and fear from them.

"That kid" the youngest one muttered "he went to the mansion up there" he said pointing to the large building on a hill. It seemed like he couldn't handle being stared at for so long. And so the three told us the story about the Honeycomb mansion.

"Gill?" asked Nana.

"the young master became a +Anima" the younger villager said.

"No servants in sight" the old man shook his head.

"The young master must have eaten them all!" yelled the younger one franticly.

"So..no-one wants to go there any more but we had to deliver the honey and then your friend came...he's a +Anima too right? It'll work out right? I mean he can fly away of something happens"

"Bees fly" I commented.

"are you saying that it doesn't matter id a +Anima gets eaten?" asked Husky angrily. The three villagers flinched in shock. We left into the forest path leaving the stunned villagers alone to think. "that's terrible...just because they didn't want to go! They..they don't even see us +Anima as human..they do that unconsciously!" he growled ranting as he walked. I smelled another human other than us as he ranted and nudged Senri, he too noticed.

Senri looked over and saw a small boy hiding in the bushes. Scared he ran, we ran after the boy hoping that he could answer some questions.

"he ran away! Hey! You! Wait suspicious person!" Husky yelled as we ran. I over took Husky while we ran but Senri over took me as he caught up with the boy...or so we thought, the boy jumped off a hill and landed safely while Senri hit his head as he landed off balance.

"he's getting away! Nana use your sonic waves!" Husky said anger fueling him. I jumped off the cliff as well and jumped over Senri just as he started to get up. My foot caught on his head as I too fell on the ground.

By the time Senri and I recovered and Nana came the boy was gone. "You're so slow!" complained Husky to Nana.

"Wasn't he kinda cute?" asked Nana "anyways, the people here don't like +Anima very much...i won't do it" she said with declaration.

"we can just go to the Mansion since we know where to go" I said helping Senri up though ended up tripping over his feet and we both fell again.

I laughed as Senri got up and tripped again. This time looking carefully at my surrounding I got up and helped Senri up.

"Lumi, Senri climb up...we don't have all day" Husky said motioning towards the direction of the mansion. Senri put me on his shoulder as I climbed up like that, Senri rock climbed up.

Just as we were a couple minutes running from the mansion a great down pour soaked us to the bone.

"Waah! I'm soaked! Why'd we have to go though the back door?" whined Nana.

"Idiot, this is the Lord's mansion, we commoners can't go in thought the front door!" scolded Husky. I frankly didn't see the difference. Senri and I shook off the extra water in our clothes and ringed out our hair. The normal behavior for a person who is used to the wild.

"Nana, if we were chased away from the front door...we wouldn't be able too look for Cooro" Husky reasoned.

"I guess..." murmured Nana.

"Cooro is supposed to be here...we just have to hope that this +Anima guy didn't eat him yet" Husky sighed.

"H-Husky! No matter how much +Anima we re we are still human and a +Anima would never heat humans!" Argued Nana furious.

"let's look for Cooro for now, I just want to get out of this village" Husky turned into a hall leaving us behind. The mansion was deathly quiet as we were the only ones in the hall or mansion as it seemed.

"Wow it's so quiet like there is nobody here" Nana commented stating the obvious.

"Didn't you hear the villagers? The servant got eaten by the young master" Husky said calmly so it was hard to understand if he was serious about believing the villagers or if he was teasing Nana.

"I've seen it...a +Anima who had transformed so far that he had lost his human soul and...he was eating raw meat all the time" Husky said genuinely worried.

"Husky stop it!" yelled Nana loudly.

"Nana stop!" Husky yelled back to the frightened girl. I was about to laugh when I smelt honey...walking honey.

"Who're you?" as a woman holding a candle. She reminded me or a bee and smelled like honey though I guessed it was some kind of perfume. "Who is it?' she asked again.

Is that lady Beena? I thought and by the looks of everyone else's faces I guessed they were thinking the same thing.

"Should we run?" asked Nana as Husky stepped forward "Husky!" Nana tried to stop him.

"Is the child sent by the village still here? We are his friends" said Husky in an uncharacteristically polite way. I raised a brow at how nice Husky could be if he tried.

"You and that child are not from Beena village are you?" she asked. Husky answered her.

"We are travelers, he was asked when we passed though here. We will be leaving so we came to retrieve him" Husky told her.

"I see please wait in this room" she led us into a room and walked out but not before saying "I have something to finish first." there was a loud bang as she closed the dook and a faint click when she locked us in.

"The lock!" Nana exclaimed as Husky started to pound on the door angrily.

"Open up! What're you gonna do to Cooro!" he asked jiggling the door knob.

"please wait quietly, it's Gill's dinner time" she said though loud enough for us to hear though the thick door.

"WHA?" we were in shock, was she really going to feed Cooro to this Gill person?

"That was...I heard a scream!" Nana said perking up her bat ears.

"was it Cooro?" asked Husky shocked at what Nana said. Senri waisted no time at all as he changed his arm into that of a bear's and broke the door in two freeing us.

"that's amazing Senri!" Nana smiled withdrawing her ears.

I noticed dark puddles of water on the floor. Husky and Nana fearing the worst expected the worst and screamed that it was blood.

"Water" Senri said touching it. I though smelling another person, the same boy we were looking for in the forest looked into a corner and saw a shadow.

"Husky" I said and motioned to the corner where the boy was hiding. In anger Husky ran over and grabbed the boy forcefully and started to yell.

"You're, what're you sneaking around for!" asked Husky ands Nana tried to stop him though Husky got angrier as the boy wasn't able to speak due to Husky's shaking.

Because of the rain I almost didn't smell Cooro and even before his scream could be heard I pointed to the hall in front and said "Cooro"

"Where?" Husky asked looking at the empty hall "there's no-one th-" before Husky could stop Cooro came bay flying like his life depended on it.

"Bee" I said again though everyone seemed to be staring at Cooro. Senri though sniffed the air too and nodded. This time a large Bee flew across the hall.

"t-thats!" the boy said looking at the giant bee. Senri and I were the first to run down the hall, Husky and the boy together and Nana at the last.

When we got to the grand hall we could see the bee chase after Cooro or more specifically what was in Cooro's hands.

"Nana use your sonic waves to stop it!" Husky said though saw a shaken up Nana denying the Bee's presence to be a +anima thought she didn't know it wasn't a +anima.

Senri and I nodded to each other and leaped onto the giant bee. I going into transformation and leaped onto the bee's back as Senri grabbed it careful not to get stung. Cooro seemed to just notice that we were there as he called to us.

The Bee swiped Senri away and tried to reach me who was still on it's back biting and clawing. Suddenly it flipped over suffocating me underneath it's huge mass. I let go and quickly the bee mad it's way to Cooro. As it pinned Cooro to the wall it looked as if it really was devouring our friend.

"Bastard! Get away from him!" Husky yelled hitting the bee's back.

"you opened Gill's room? What have you done?" asked lady Beena.

"L-lady!" the boy said surprised.

"Milto! Where were you? Even if he's a +anima Gill is still your Master" she scolded Milto.

"I...um...Lady Beena...I...Gill-sama is" Milto hesitated.

"the servants ran away afraid of Gill's fearsome appearance but I am his mother and so I cannot abandon him!" lady Beena declaired.

"fearsome?...n no thats" Nana mumbled and screamed in a sonicwave. "NO!" I passed out after the effect swept over us all. When I came to I was on Senri's back as Cooro was explaining what happened.

"jeeze I thought you were eaten!" Nana cried angrily then looked in thought. "was it a bee +anima?" she asked though to herself.

"huh? That wasn't a +anima...couldn't you tell?" asked Cooro.

"the bee didn't smell like Gill" I said.

"you're awake? Asked Husky.

"yeah, I just woke up..." I let Senri let me down and I sat beside Cooro. "Gill's smell was all over the place in the mansion, so was Milto's and also Lady Beena's."

"oh..." Nana said looking in thought.

"oh and by the way, why were you wandering the mansion with honey anyways?" asked Husky as we started to walk.

"hm...it was because I though since she was alone, one jar would be enough and so I took one jar as payment. Smart of me to leave before she knew right?" Cooro laughed.

Husky on the other hand didn't find it amusing and hit Cooro on the head with the stick he took from the mansion.

"Why Husky? " asked Cooro holding the spot where he was hit.

"you're such a hassle, really taking something in a time like that?" Husky sighed.

"you took that stick Husky" Nana pointed out making Husky fall silent. I went over and licked Cooro's cheek.

"L-Lumi!" Nana said "Girl's don't do that guys do!" she said though I justified my actions.

"Honey"


	2. Chapter 2

"Ah ha, Summer is over!" Cooro stated as we walked though the dry desert like area.

"let's go south before winter comes." Husky said pointing to the sign stating South, Slang Town.

"Yeah I don't want to freeze to death" Cooro said as happy-go-lucky as ever.

"the Ocean's south right? I've never seen it before...have you Senri?" asked Nana "what about Lumi?"

I shook my head though Senri looked deep in thought.

"ohh...so you haven't either? Yeah most people wouldn't travel that much...not unless you were a peddler or something" Nana trailed off thinking about something else.

"hn Nana is such a girl." growled Husky.

"you didn't know?" asked Cooro.

"that's not what I meant!" Husky said hitting Cooro in the head with his newly gained stick from the Honeycomb mansion.

We kept walking as we got to a large hilly mountain path a person looked distressed and called to us. We quickly went up to the old woman to see what was wrong.

"Roba lost his footing, will you help us pull him up?" asked the old woman. We looked down the small cliff and saw a girl with a small donkey tied to rope.

"please!" the girl shouted waving her hand.

"oh no!" Cooro looked worried "the donkey is hurt!"

"we have to help them get up!" Nana concluded.

"she's hurt too" I mumbled before grabbing rope. Behind me Nana and Husky grabbed the rope, on the other side Senri and Cooro grabbed rope and we started to tug. When we finally got the donkey up; the girl climbed up on her own.

"thank you" she said when Senri help her up the rest of the way.

"You're hurt, you smell of blood" I commented pointing to her wound "the donkey too"

"Oh you're hurt!" Cooro said when he looked at where I was pointing.

"It's nothing, I just scrapped myself on a rock my way down." she said as she examined the wound.

Senri on the other hand took her wrist and started to lick the wound. Everyone except myself and Cooro looked shocked. Saliva was the best for wounds.

Once her arm was all bandaged by the old woman she introduced herself.

"I'm Rose, I'm a peddler as you can see" she said.

"is that your mother?" asked Cooro nodding to the old woman who was tending to the donkey.

"No I met Margo-san at an inn, I usually travel alone but when crossing mountains and plains it's safer to go in groups" she told us.

"a girl traveling alone? Sounds dangerous" Nana said worriedly.

"I'm no girl! I'm 16! I'm already an adult plus if I wasn't confident in myself then I wouldn't have started this business" she said showing us a quick jab. "I'll show you, this is what I am selling." she took out a box from her bag and showed us buttons and pins.

"Some of them I even design and make myself" she grinned while Nana admired the accessories.

This time I sniffed her and a familiar scent crossed my nose. "I'm Lumi" I said stretching out my hand.

"Nice yo meet you Lumi" she said shaking my hand.

"Well, my stuff is light so that's ok but...Margo-san is..." she trailed off and looked at Margo.

"Roba can't carry anything now" Margo-san said with a short sigh.

"Roba says that he would carry things for you to make you happy" I said translating his baying sound.

"Do you understand animals?" Rose asked.

"I grew up with wolves" I told her like I told the rest of the group when I had first met them.

"But...oh I know!" Margo-san looked at us "Would you carry my things? Just until we're over the northern pass and reach the village!" she said looking happily at us.

"North! We're going south we can't" started Husky but Margo-san pulled out a 50piece coin.

"and if I pay you?"

"OKAY!" Husky decided for us when he saw the money. We all sweatdroped.

Rose conversed with Senri and I mostly with Senri and asking me questions about my background.

"Lumi, how did you end up with wolves?" she asked.

"I remember living with wolves all my life" I said.

"you speak well for living with animals" she commented.

"I learned when hunters came..and my words were put to use when I was told to leave the pack last year...I had 14 springs behind me then" I told her.

"aren't you cold walking around like that?" she asked pointing to my top and pants. I shook my head.

"You were 14 when you left home?" she asked shocked. I nodded. Since I stopped talking from there she started to talk with Senri but with more enthusiasm.

"you're stronger than you look aren't you? Boys really are different..thanks for earlier though you surprised me...Senri..." the conversation was one sided "are you a Kim-un-kur? The people who live with nature and it's spirits in the mountains? Those beads are from your tribe right?.." I didn't hear the rest as Nana's scent of worry over powered anything else.

"what's wrong Nana?" I asked moving back to her. Cooro asked her the same thing but she shooed him away with a bag.

"Lumi?" she asked. I could see Husky looking this way with a glare.

"don't you feel jealous?" she asked.

"why?" I asked her back as my answer.

"you know..Rose is with Senri..." she trailed off.

"and?" I asked not really getting what she was on to.

"You can't talk to her about things like this in a roundabout manner" Husky said coming up to us.

"about what?" I asked him really not understanding the point in this conversation.

"it's about Mating" Husky said bluntly.

"oh...mother said not to mate until you find a suitable male to be with all your life...mother said that humans mate for life" I said.

"Mother?" Husky asked.

"Adoptive mother ...you know the wolf" I said and he nodded.

"AH!" Margo-san's sudden voice surprised us as we all came to a stop. "I knew I'd seen you before!" she said looking towards us. "Senri were you part of a large caravan? I recognize you from your beads and eye patch!" she said happily. "You were only this big" she showed us the height. "I was with them only for 10 days while I was crossing the plains so I didn't talk to you much" she said.

Senri with a blank look rummaged in his pouch and pulled out his book.

"oh that book!" Cooro said.

"Maybe it's a diary of some sort?" Husky guessed.

"He was really upset when Sammy took it" Cooro commented.

"Really? How mysterious" Nana also looked curious.

Senri finally stopped half way though the book and looked at Margo confused.

"oh of course you don't remember. It's ok" laughed Margo-san. I noticed Rose looking at Senri admirably.

"oh look someone's coming" Cooro said looking over at the pass where you could see further down the path. It was like a large parade of soldiers, no it was a large parade of soldiers.

"Astaria soldiers!" Rose said looking impressed.

"we have wagons coming though, open the road" the leader I guessed said as he rode up to us on his horse.

"we'd like to but..." Rose started.

"it's such a narrow road!" Nana said shocked anyone would make a demand like that.

"Soldiers huh?" Husky sighed a sharp sigh.

"yeah" Cooro looked at them. I tried not to growl as many of the hunters that hunted in the mountains were soldiers off duty.

"Don't disobey them" Margo-san said pushing her donkey out of the way. The soldiers walked on and gave us strange looks as they passed...us as in Senri and myself.

"isn't he kinda glaring?" asked one soldier.

"isn't she cold?" another asked.

"aren't they Kim-un-kurs?" asked another.

I could smell anger radiate off the leader as the word Kim-un-kur passed the soldier's lips.

Slowly the leader made his way over to us. "WHAT'RE YOU STARING AT?" he yelled scaring the horses. One made it's cargo fall to the bottom of the ravine. "shoot" he said looking depressed. The wagon horse was still exited. I got off the rock we were all standing on and calmed the horse down feeding it some berries.

"Pull them up with ropes, some one go down there!" yelled the leader though Cooro volunteered before the soldiers could move.

"Cooro!" Husky and Nana tried to stop him.

"Do you feel responsible or something? Well ok go ahead" the leader handed Cooro the rope.

"Actually I don't feel responsible but I just have to tie this on right?" he asked and got a nod from the leader. "I'll be right back" he said sprouting his wings and flying down. There were surprised muttering as he tied the swords together and motioned to them calling out "ok pull it up!"

Suddenly as if his voice was a warning bell birds started to attack Cooro. Cooro started to try and reassure the birds though they weren't listening. As Cooro escaped from the birds the soldiers started to shoot arrows at them.

"NO!" I yelled but I was too late as the arrows were fired at Cooro and the birds. Accidentally Cooro was hit with a stray arrow causing my blood to boil in anger. This attack with arrows caused the birds to get angrier and caught Cooro's wing. This time it was my turn to go +anima as I turned half way into wolf form. I jumped upon the unsuspecting bird and bit it's neck fiercely as a wild animal should. As that one went down with me still on it I howled notifying the other animals in the area that the place was mine. When I looked up from the bottom of the gorge I saw Senri and Rose fighting another couple of birds and so saving Cooro.

The birds stopped fighting at once and disappeared at my call. I jumped up the cliff to find my suspicious correct. Rose was a cat.

"Rose I thought so!" Cooro looked happy. On my way up I picked up Senri.

"You two...think about the consequences first before fighting! You both could have died!" Husky said angrily.

"Senri...Lumi, thanks" Cooro said though his bleeding shoulder looked deep. Senri again started to lap up the blood from the wound.

Again everyone looked shocked.

"M-maybe he just likes blood?" Nana and Husky voiced their thoughts.

"oh well" Rose though looked disappointed.

As Margo invited us to stay with her in an inn we walked with Rose for a while.

"Senri you remind me of my little brother back home...he's only eight though but I'll be seeing him for the first time in two months" Rose looked happy. Then rose brought out a rose pin and handed it to Nana. "here, I think it'll look good on you will you take it?" she asked Nana.

"Th-thank you Rose" Nana said with a slight blush.

"Will you accept this?" Rose asked handing me a bead with a feather. "You know to put in your hair" she asked.

"sure" I answered and she helped me put it in my hair. She then gathered Nana and myself together.

"Senri's big but..I'm not sure how he is in the head so watch out for him" she said to us.

"huh?" Nana and I shared a look.

Senri though took the rose in Rose's hair and put it in his book.

"Wha? What was that? WHAT?" Rose asked us though we had no clue as to Senri's stranger behavior.

After the next day we left and headed off in some random direction again probably south. At the moment we were having lunch.

"you did it Husky, only two more now" Cooro said as Husky came out of the water with a fish on his spear.

"Yeah just make sure you chase them in the right direction." called Husky to Cooro who hovered over the lake. I sat at the fire and watched the fish cook, Nana was shouting encouragement to Cooro and Husky while Senri was keeping the fire hot. Suddenly without warning Cooro started to head off in a direction to he mountains. We were speechless as Husky yelled at Cooro.

"Cooro where are you going?" Husky yelled. He got out of the lake and dried off as Cooro disappeared. We started to have lunch without Cooro thinking that he could come back but by the time we finished our meal Cooro still was not back.

"I wonder just how far Cooro went" Nana sighed "he's not coming back"

"forget about it, he's too much of a kid" Husky said with a short and sharp sigh.

"A kid...but you are too" Nana retorted.

"I mean he acts like he is three, he get lost chasing butterflies and doesn't even realize that he gets lost...he probably forgot about us already" Husky was very angry.

"Come on he's not always like that" I said patting Husky's back

"he's always like that! He forget about us as soon as something else happens." he retorted.

We heard flipping noises and saw Senri flipping through the pages in his book and saw him take out a black feather, Cooro's feather.

"Cooro" sighed Senri.

"Anyways...we're talking about Cooro here, he'll come back when he's hungry" Husky growled.

"Ah! You just degraded him further" I sighed and lay down on the ground.

Hours passed as Cooro never came back, we though were sheltering under a rock/cave/den from the storm that was brewing outside.

"Cooro didn't come back" Nana's worry grew.

"There's gonna be a storm" Husky said looking outside where the wind was strong.

"He'll be fine" I said though mostly to reassure myself.

"..." Senri was as silent as ever as he looked at his book where one of Cooro's feather was.

"Where did he go that idiot!" Husky growled angrily though there was no mistaking the evident worry in his voice under the mask of anger. As the storm worsened outside, our worries filled the cave like a strong musk. Actually it was water that was suffocating us. I awoke abruptly just as Senri wrapped his arm around me to pick me up.

"I'm awake" I said climbing up the rock and sheltering under a thick tree. Nana was already on the rock, Senri was climbing up the rock face when I helped him up the rest of the way on the slippery rock.

"What about Husky?" I asked Nana.

"he's a fish..it'll be ok, he can breath after all" Nana said not looking at all worried for Husky.

After waiting for about another hour or so we heard Husky screaming. "S-Senri! Nana! L-Lumi!" he yelled over the roar of the wind and rain.

"Oh! You're awake Husky?" asked Nana.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked looking at us with anger.

"the lake started to flood but since you're a fish I thought you would be ok" Nana said innocently.

"IS YOUR HEAD ON BACKWARDS?" Husky yelled jumping out of the water like a fish. He climbed up and gave Senri and I a sharp glare. "you two should say something in times like that!"

"I thought it made sense..." I said helping Husky the rest of the way up. He sprayed water in my face. "I guess I deserved that" I said wiping away the water.

"Cooro!" Nana suddenly declared. "I heard flapping" she said pointing towards the mountains where a small black figure that looked like Cooro started to come towards us. Slowly the figure flew to the ground.

"COORO!" we yelled though there was no point as it would be near impossible to hear us without ears like Nana. We left our shelter and ran over to a large meadow at approximately the area where Cooro went down.

"Cooro where were you?" Husky asked his worry turning to anger now that Cooro was safe.

"We ate all the fish" Nana told him though Cooro showed no motion in hearing what we said. Instead he was all hunched up with his wings drawn around himself like an injured bird.

"What's wrong Cooro? Do you have a stomach ache?" asked Nana as we neared him.

"no" Cooro's muffled voice came from under his wings. Senri going for a more direct approach opened Cooro's wings and we saw a scratch on his forehead and his eyes seemed slightly red.

"Hurt" Senri said lifting up Cooro's bangs.

"What you're hurt?" Nana asked.

"No it doesn't hurt anymore but I'm tired" he sighed. I did as any dog would do. I licked his wound and his cheeks tasting some slight taste of tears.

"Lumi?" Nana asked but not before Senri pulled me away from Cooro.

"umm..ok..." Husky stared for a second before turning to look at Cooro.

"Thanks Lumi...I wanted to stay a bit longer but he told me to leave...I thought we were friends...he even gave me cheese" Cooro sighed still depressed.

"CHEESE!" Nana and Husky seemed exited at the word though I could see no value in this thing called cheese.

"where were you?" Husky asked the question that was on everyone's minds.

"a village over there" Cooro pointed in a northern direction.

"Village? Say that sooner you idiot!" Husky yelled grabbing Cooro's arm. Nana grabbed the other.

"we're gonna stay there to get out of the rain, hurry" she yelled as she and Husky ran off with Cooro in tow. Senri and I ran behind them.

When we got there there was a group of people outside surrounding a cliff. Suddenly from the top a large bird like kite came out with a person riding it.

"He's flying!" Nana said surprised.

"what happened to Shad?" Cooro asked a nearby villager.

"he said he'd take the medicine up the mountain since the road collapsed but..he didn't have to do this crazy thing!" the villager said looking up at Shad.

Cooro and Husky talked though I was paying more attention to the man in danger of falling and dying.

"You're a nice guy" I said to Husky as Cooro flew off.

"Shut up!...he's just a pain" Husky said.

"Sure..you sounded really convincing though" Nana said giving Husky a sidelong glance.

"WHAT?" Husky asked blushing angrily.

It wasn't until morning that the storm subsided and we were recruited to restoring the road. Cooro again nowhere to be found.

"COOOORRROO!" Husky panted form the heavy work load.

"Why isn't he coming back?" Nana asked angrily. I grinned at the the complaints that came from their mouths and exchanged a look with Senri, we both chucked; gaining strange glances from Husky and Nana. Cooro finally came back and we left the village, I still not knowing this food substance called cheese.


	3. Chapter 3

We arrived at a town near the foot of the mountains and we walked though the market place looking at the new and strange items on sale.

"I want an Iron knife or ax like Senri and Lumi have, my stone knife can't cut wood" Cooro said looking at the vendors.

"A kid like you can't have one" Nana said shaking her head.

"And plus, Iron is expensive. The Astarian government is controlling it" Husky said.

"Want to hold it?" I asked Cooro taking out my iron blade from my hip. Cooro nodded excitedly until he had it in his hands.

"it's heavy!" Cooro said weighing it.

"really?" I asked taking the blade back from Cooro.

"un" he nodded then he saw some axes from a window of a shop. "this one's nice!"

"No we can't buy one like that!" Husky yelled.

"Husky...you were going to buy me one?" asked Cooro to Husky "I don't have any money"

Husky leaned back slightly and then started to yell. "Earn your own, I'm nearly out of my own money! At this rate we'll be all out and we'll be camping and eating nuts and fish for the rest of our lives!"

"NOOO I want bread I want changes of clothing!" Nana yelled horrified.

Senri and I seemed like the only sane people as we were calm but then again I really didn't mind eating fish and nuts and camping.

"Then we can all work in this town ok?" Cooro proposed his idea to us. We agreed and decided to work in the town.

I went with Husky and Senri.

"The big guy could work but what can the girl and the kid do?" asked the man. A woman came to us and stared at Husky before coming to me. She pulled at my clothes and hair before nodding.

"You can work for me" she said happily "you girls want to be waitresses at my bar?" she asked tilting Husky's head and squeezing my breast. I shook her off as Husky grabbed my hand.

"Senri let's go" Husky yelled angrily. "Lumi, if a guy does what the woman did to you, you are supposed to attack them or scream" Husky said. I nodded.

Senri stopped walking and stared at some soldiers. I stopped Husky and pointed to Senri and the soldiers.

"let's follow them" Husky said again still grabbing my hand and following the two soldiers. They smelled faintly familiar but I couldn't remember when. As we followed them I remembered that they were the ones we met on the mountain pass though I stayed silent and followed as Husky ordered.

When we followed them to the camp they turned and saw us.

"It's those Kim-un-kurs from before!" the shouted pointing at us.

"That's the Astaria army we met on the mountain pass! Let's go before there's trouble!" Husky said hurriedly though I saw no hurry, I mean we did nothing wrong.

"WHAT? KIM-UN-KURS?" the leader who's name is Igneous came from the tent.

"It's that stupid soldier again, we have to hurry you two!" Husky pushed us along away from the camp.

We were too slow as the soldiers surrounded us leaving us nowhere to escape.

"Why are you here? Are you following us" he asked watching us carefully.

"Of course not! I wish you would go away!" Husky yelled angrily. Senri and I stayed silent. Suddenly a cloak was tossed over towards me so I caught it...well it was catching it and having it hit my face. I looked at Igneous questioningly.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked. I shook my head and bowed in thanks.

"I don't need thanks from a Kim-un-kur, why are you here in Astaria anyways? Two of you! Get out" Igneous brandished a sword into Senri's face. Senri like a second instinct transformed his left arm into that of a bear's again. Igneous and the other soldiers flinched back slightly.

"you blood thirsty beast! That is what all you Kim-un-kurs are! I can't let you go!" yelled Igneous. A soldier held Husky back while another kept a hold of me. Fear rose up like bile in the throat as the position I was in reminded me of a once trap that killed my foster brother and when I was taken captive by hunters.

It was pure instinct as I howled loudly into the air calling for help. I was half into wolf transformation as I struggled against the tightening grasp of the soldier. I whined and howled like a mad beast causing everyone to stare.

"Lumi?" Husky's voice was barely audible though my fear.

"Husky...Senri...Help" I whined in a whisper that I doubt anyone could hear. I passed out and missed what happened after wards and woke up on a bed beside Husky. I bolted up and paced around the room settling in a corner hidden by shadows. Everyone seemed to know my strange behavior though acted like it was no different. I was grateful.

"I can't believe those guys!" Nana growled.

"They're the ones we saw when we met Rose right?" Cooro asked. At the mention of Rose's name I looked at the beaded feather in my hair.

"they, the Astaria soldiers want me to make them swords from iron, I am no longer a sword smith..I no longer make any weapons" sighed the old man as he walked into his workshop. "20 years ago I loved my country more than anything so I forged this sword and others to help this country...I put my heart in this sword" we listened intently.

The old man came out of the workshop and grabbed Senri's wrist. "A kim-un-kur from the mountains eh? A +anima's power is the same as a sword. Think before you use it, it's not something you should just throw around" the man warned him.

"okay!" the woman said clapping her hands "enough talk so let's eat." she said showing us a lot of food.

"WAHH!" Nana looked so happy jumping up and down on the spot. Even I had to say that it smelled good when suddenly my stomach growled loudly, I guess I had forgotten how hungry I was.

"Come here and eat at the table" the woman laughed kindly "eat up so you can work well" she then said to all of us sitting at the table.

"Work?" the man asked.

"yes, they are going to be my assistants" the woman grinned.

Slowly I walked up towards the table and sat down across from Cooro and looked down at the stew.

"Thanks Senri" I said.

"hmmm" he mumbled already eating soup.

"How did you know it was Senri who brought you back in?" Nana asked as she took some bread.

"I would be a disgrace to be called a wolf +anima if I can't even tell who carried me around" I said "also I found his hair on my shirt"

"oh..." Cooro nodded then started to eat. I too trying not to wolf down the soup into my empty stomach. When we finished Cooro, Husky and Nana were taken away by the woman. The woman came back, Senri was taken by the man to chop wood.

"can you help me with this?" she asked handing me a ball of yarn. I took it though I had no idea what I was supposed to do. The woman laughed and showed me what I was supposed to do, I started to wind the yarn around my hand as she started to knit.

"So what is your name?" she asked "you haven't been taking that much since you woke up, I think that the one sentence at dinner was the only time you talked."

"My name is Lumi." I said.

"I'm Margaret, so do you think you can tell me what happened before? Maybe I can help" she said as she continued to knit. "and my husband's name is Haden"

"thank you..." I hesitated to tell her though something about her told me I could trust her. "When I was younger...six or eight summers I think it was, it was hunting season in the mountain I was living in with the wolves. The pups were born and everyone was busy taking care of the new pups. It was my and Kaju's turn to hunt for the expecting mothers and the elderly as the other males were taking care of the pups and mothers." I looked up at Margaret.

"go on" she nodded so I did.

"then, when I was catching rabbits and squirrels for the pups when Kaju got trapped by the hunters...the hunters were soldiers off duty, Astaria soldiers they were. They caught Kaju and when they found me the caught me too to sell me." I sniffled a bit, maybe a cold was coming up "there were four soldiers and they killed Kaju so I got scared...that was when I was able to turn fully into a +anima wolf." I looked at her wondering if she understood "You were once a +anima weren't you?" I asked.

She looked surprised but nodded "yes, how did you know?"

"All +animas have a scent different from humans...once a +anima always a +anima" I told her.

"So you can fully turn?" she said going back to the topic.

"hmm? Oh yea but I don't like to, I mean what will the others think? I mean when they saw a large bee that they thought was a +anima..they attacked it but...if I tell them I'm scared that I'll be chased out." my sight went blurry as somethings slid down my cheeks like rain. "I'm raining from my eyes?" I wondered wiping my eyes and face with my shoulder.

"It's not rain Lumi, it's called tears and they come out when you cry" Margaret patted my back in a comforting way.

"crying? What a funny word but somehow I feel more human" my voice quivered "I'm pathetic" I whispered to myself.

"Crying means you're strong Lumi, it means you can show your feelings, you're showing you have a weakness and that you're not afraid of letting anyone else know cause you're strong. I means you're human, one of the most stubborn animals on earth" she said as she finished the scarf she was knitting.

"Sorry and thank you for listening Margaret" I grinned.

"any time. Now let's see how this looks on you" she said putting the scarf around my neck "you're going to catch a cold walking around like that" she said.

"but!"

"Just accept it" she smiled.

"Thank you again" I grinned and we both laughed as everyone came in back from all the work.

"Mr. Haden can you please fix something of mine? I know I am asking for too much but I will help as much as I can!" I asked bowing.

"what is it?" he asked.

"my blade, I was wondering if you could fix some cracks and niches" I pulled out my blade from my sheath and handed it to him. My blade was lighter then regular iron but it was still iron.

"a unique blade this is but I can't fix it, this type of metal I've never seen" Haden shook his head "sorry"

"no, thank you Mister Haden" I bowed again. At least I know that it's something that I can't just let anyone fix.

"now everyone go to sleep, tomorrow is going to be a big day" Margaret said giving us blankets.

Soon everyone fell asleep. I though gathered the cloak that Igneous threw at me and decided to give it back to him and face my fear of Astaria soldiers again like I had in the mountain pass. I left the house silently not waking anyone up because they would disagree to the idea. I started to walk down the night lane watching the stars twinkle.

"Kaju..." I sighed "thank you" all this time I hated the humans, I hated myself too but now it felt like a large burden left me.

I neared the camp when I saw that the soldiers on duty were down and passed out. Worry was first as who or what it was could come to Margaret and Haden's house when I realized the scent.

"KYAA!" Nana's voice echoed though the still night air as I hurried to where her scent came from. Igneous had his sword at her back.

"NANA!" I yelled and started to run to her when I was surrounded by sleepy but ready for action soldiers.

"You! Again what is a kid like you doing here to steal and you Kim-un-kur?" Igneous asked.

"I came to return the cloak, and to thank you but..I guess I can't" I growled "You soldiers again making trouble for the people and animals alike. You killed my mother, you killed my brother. You killed my tribe and half my pack. Are you going to kill my only friends in this large world too?" I asked as I let myself turn fully wolf.

"huh?" Igneous looked stunned as the other soldiers looked confused.

"ah that kid!" a soldier said pointing "I remember that scar!" he pointed to my right leg where a large scar was. It was normally hidden by my pants. "the wolf kid!"

I returned his glare before leaping. "and you killed Kaju" blood rushed though my ears leaving me deaf and only left to focus on one thing, the man who killed Kaju.

"the little wolf?" he asked.

"My only friend in the pack and I had to hold his funeral!" I growled my anger making my wolf form disappear and made me back to a humanoid form holding the man's neck in my grip.

"Get the crazy +anima off the captain!" a soldier yelled and soon I had half a dozen people holding me down. My face was pushed into the dirt to stop me from biting someone's hands.

I was tied down to a post all night. Nana also though she was in a bag.

"I'm sorry Nana if only I didn't think about revenge then we both would be free" I said sadly.

"no it's ok. It must be hard to be on Astarian soil when you know that they are responsible of your friend and family's death" Nana said quietly.

"no I'm just...never mind I shouldn't make you bear the weight of my problems. You're still a child so I should be the one supporting you" I strained at the rope and got close enough to gnaw at it when Igneous came out of his tent fully dressed to surveillance our movements personally.

By morning we were all tired as the night was filled with arguing between myself and Igneous. Finally we were untied and when I thought they were going to let us go they tied us again, Nana held in a sac, my hands and feet bound, my hands were behind me so I couldn't chew the rope off. A soldier put me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and they marched towards Haden's house.

Everyone was outside.

"Lumi? And in the bag? Couldn't be" Husky said though he was not the only one who was surprised.

"Let her out and lower the Kim-un-kur to stand" Igneous said and Nana was allowed to let her head pop through and I was lowered to the ground.

"What's the meaning of this?" asked Haden coming forward.

"this little girl tried to steal this Axe...and the kim-un-kur assaulted a captain" Igneous reported.

"you would too if your fr-" I was silenced by him.

"I can't let them go as stealing from Astaria and assaulting an officer are considered grave offenses to the law" he said holding out an Axe and keeping his other hand on my mouth.

"you wouldn't have done any of this if you didn't have such powers would you? Special powers make people arrogant" Igneous looked at us with distaste.

"And you don't have special power with the law?" I broke free from his hand. This must have caused him to snap as he slapped me across the cheek forcefully. "I don't wish to lay a hand on a woman or girl what ever you would prefer." he then turned to Haden.

"Haden do you remember the battle on Moss mountain?" he asked Haden.

"yes that was a battle with the Kim-un-kur wasn't it?" asked Haden.

"my grandfather was killed in that battle by a +anima, a bear +anima" he said giving Senri a glare. "Astaria needs power once again, I can let these two go if you forge swords for us again" Igneous proposed.

"if I make swords that don't have my heart in them...they will not be like the Guardian Heart" Haden told Igneous.

"you have the heart to save two lives, so you must have enough for the swords too" Igneous said though I couldn't help but hear sadness in his voice as he said that.

Haden closed his eyes as if he were in thought. Surely he wouldn't make swords for these people to wage war again. "Take all your swords to the work shop" Haden ordered.

"Mister!" Cooro also looked surprised.

"Carry the swords!" Igneous' previously melancholy mood changed to a bright one as he ordered a soldier to bring the swords.

"Hey hey! Mister officer can I see that Axe for a second?" Cooro asked Igneous. Though he was confused at Cooro's happy attitude he handed him the axe.

"WOW! This is heavy! I couldn't fly with this. It's heavier than Lumi's blade. Here mister you can have it back" Cooro handed the Axe back to Igneous before telling Nana "it's too heavy for you Nana" Cooro said.

Nana groaned in frustration.

"Don't do it again" Igneous said as he let Nana go. It was almost like an adult telling his child not to do something. Nana started to follow Cooro but before getting half way there she turned around and stuck out her tongue rudely at Igneous. He was silent as Nana left. It seemed as if he forgot I was still tied.

"s'cuse me sir, sorry if I'm bothering you but may I be untied?" I asked.

"huh? Oh yeah" He took out a small knife which made me flinch. "like I said, I don't want to lay my hand on a girl...or woman. A child too" he said as he made quick clean cuts though the rope, then he handed me a patch. "It'll bring the swelling down...sorry" he said. I wasn't sure if he was serious or not.

"I don't want to apologize to a kim-un-kur either but you being female is first" he growled slightly.

"You're actually very kind aren't you?" I murmured as I took the patch. "I guess not all soldiers are murderous beasts after all" I smiled to myself. "I'm sorry about what happened to your grandpa Captain...Igneous. My name is Lumi and I don't want to thank you either but I should so Thank you for letting me go and for the cloak." I said before leaving to enter the house.

"Idiots! Both of you are idiots. Nana trying to scare away the army? Totally stupid. Lumi thanking an officer with a hatred to our kind? Moronic!" Husky growled.

"That was just an extra, I was just going to get an Axe for Cooro" Nana argued.

"That was stupid too!" Husky yelled.

"WHY?" Nana asked.

"Nana, stealing is bad." Cooro said saying something sensible for the first time in days. "I do it too sometimes but I'm prepared for the consequences, I might get punched or killed but if you're ok with that..."

"Anyways, if you hadn't messed up then Mister Haden wouldn't have to reforge all the swords, Honestly" Husky still looked angry.

"Sorry" Nana and I looked at our feet. I sighed I felt like I just let people down again.

"I'm just going to go and see how Mister Haden is doing" Cooro said leaving us though I kinda thought he was leaving since it looked like Husky was going to go into lecture mode again.

It was probably ten minutes since Cooro left when Mister Haden called out to us. "I need your help with something!"

When we got back to the house Haden got Husky and Cooro hauling coal, Senri in his work shop and Nana and myself were picked up by Margaret to cook. We all worked all day until the late of night. Cooro and Husky were fast asleep in the work shop, Nana at the kitchen table. Senri was still helping Mister Haden. As Margaret placed a blanket over Cooro I tucked Husky under another blanket after right turning a fallen bucket.

"These kids are so full of life, the +anima power and swords are the same, they are there to protect" Senri and I watched as Margaret walked to Haden. "After I started living with you my +anima power disappeared. You are my guardian"

Senri stared but I knew from past experiences with my pack that they needed some privacy. I linked arms with Senri and pointed to Cooro and Husky, together we tucked the three in bed. I snickered as they started to snore slightly, it was a long and rough day for them, working for that long. Senri smiled.

The next morning Igneous was called.

"I did what I could do" Haden said revealing the boxes of gardening and house hold tools. The shock on Igneous and the soldier's faces were priceless as they looked at what had happened to their precious weapons.

"Th-these are kitchen knives!" a soldier said inspecting the knives.

"A scythe? A-and a froe?" another said.

"What is the meaning of this?" Igneous asked holding two scissors, one in each hand.

"I tried putting my heart into it and these came out, I was unconscious" Haden said in a truly innocent way like he was truly clueless as to the household objects he had made.

"Well" the soldiers started "they are beautifully made"

"I'd like my wife to use these" another said fingering the blade of the butchering knife.

"they're nice right?" Cooro asked the soldiers who nodded with admiration.

"the army needs swords, these may be wonderful but" before Igneous could go on the soldiers started complaining.

"Commander, the army needs these kinds of tools too!"

"I'd be a shame to destroy these!"

Igneous looked torn between two things as he finally said "Fine withdraw!"

"Yes sir!" the soldiers nodded.

"It's dangerous to hold scissors like that!" I yelled after Igneous as he ran with the blades up.

"Shut-up!" he yelled back. We cheered as the soldiers made there way back.

"Cooro here take this" Haden said handing him a small hand Axe. "You don't need it to live but I'm sure it will be useful" he said to a happy Cooro.

"Thank you!" we waved as we went on our way in the late morning. Cooro had a new Axe and I gained a scarf but also the ability to trust others fully.

"Oh yeah I forgot I wanted to tell you. I can transform into a full wolf" I told them as we headed slightly south.

"WHAT? You have to tell us these things before!" Husky yelled.

"I guess it slipped my mind" I grinned. I ran off first everyone running behind me as I transformed. "I guess this will add a new strength to us no?" I asked as they caught up. We all laughed as I transformed back to a human.


	4. Chapter 4

We were stopping to rest at a river when Nana wanted to take a bath, I went with her. I noticed that she was carrying new clothes.

"did you make them at Margaret's house?" I asked pointing to her new dress.

"yep, I made some for you too since you're always wearing the same thing I want to see you in a dress." she said.

"Dress?" I asked.

"you know what I always wear. They are comfy and nice." she said as she dipped into the cool water. I followed after her. Now that I think about it this was probably the first time I've bathed with Nana since we first met, I never trusted anyone so I always bathed alone in the middle of the night. Nana blushed and looked away.

"Your +anima markings are pretty cute" I said tracing her mark.

"Really? I don't like them since they are so big." she pouted. "You and Cooro and Senri don't seem to mind showing it off." she said.

"I'm proud, my foster mother, the wolf, told me that the +anima was given to me by my mother and by herself so that I would have a place with the wolves and with the humans" I said "that's why I'm proud of my marking" I said looking at my mark that looked like a wolf head howling.

"I wish I was that confident" she sighed and I patted her back.

"it's ok" I grinned "I'm sure you will be one day."

We talked in the river for a while before getting out, Nana handed me clothes so I tried them on though it felt strange.

"You look beautiful!" she said making me turn around as I tugged the dress around. "let's go to everyone" she went out first twirling with a smile.

"oh your clothes, where did you get them?" Cooro asked.

"I made them at Margret's place, nice huh?" she asked Cooro though Husky had a more harsh string of words to Nana.

"Honestly Girls, making us wait for something like that..where is Lumi?" he then asked after a sigh.

"I made her clothes too" Nana said as she dragged me out of the bushes. I blushed as they all stared.

"Um Nana, I don't know about you but this feels more uncomfortable, can I go change? I mean I'm not saying I don't like it but...I like my old clothes they feel more like me" I said. Nana sighed then nodded so I started to strip.

"Lumi! Not here go behind the bush!" Nana and Husky yelled pushing me into the bushes.

"um...ok?" I agreed with them so they would stop though I saw no harm in changing where I was though decided to agree thinking it was some sort of human interaction thing. I changed back and was more relieved when I didn't have strange cloth brushing against my skin.

"Husky" I sat down beside him.

"hm?" he asked.

"I'm sleepy but can you tell me more about human interaction?" I asked. Ever since joining them a month or so ago my language bettered and vocabulary grew.

"ok" Husky started as I listened intently.

"we're pretty far south...I wonder where the ocean is" Cooro asked as we walked to a map.

"It's still pretty far but it's warm here. We don't have to go all the way to the sea" Husky said pointing to a location on the map.

"But you can swim all you like in the sea. Don't you want to?" Cooro asked with a totally different motive.

"Cooro, you just want to eat Ocean fish huh?" Husky asked.

"Yep!" Cooro agreed happily.

"stupid" Husky growled hitting Cooro on the head with his bow stick.

Cooro recovered quickly as his attention moved to the crowded market street. "hey there are lots of stores over there, let's go look!" Cooro pointed to the market.

"ok then, we can meet back here when the sun gets to that tower ok?" Husky asked, we nodded our agreement. I went off with Cooro and Senri as it seemed Husky wanted to be left alone and plus it seemed that it would be funner to be with Cooro's adventure. When we were half way though we saw what looked like Nana and Husky having a fight with Husky running off.

"What's wrong Nana?" Cooro asked.

Nana started telling us her wild theory.

"Huh? Husky's a girl?" Cooro asked.

"I think that maybe she says she hates girls because she is a girl herself." Nana said.

"Oh well Husky was pretty as the mermaid princess" Cooro said thinking about an adventure of before we were around to witness. "but Husky said that he's a boy though"

"See that's just weird that she'd go through the trouble to say all that...right Senri? Lumi?" I pretended to be dumb about this subject. "Okay, I'll just have to do this by force!" she said with a determined look.

"Late" I looked at the tower and sun, for the first time Husky was late.

"They're fighting!" someone yelled. We looked in the direction the yell came from and ran over to see Husky fighting three boys. Senri automatically brought out his claws though Nana stopped him. Cooro started to distract everyone as Senri grabbed Husky and we all made a mad dash away from the scene.

We got about a half mile from the town when Husky asked to be put down.

"Are you ok Husky?" Cooro asked Husky as he was let down. I patted his head checking for lumps and other hurts that might become a problem.

"Husky" Nana started "I told you guys how I became a +anima, that was my biggest secret. I thought that it'd be easier if I told you rather than keeping it in so..." Nana looked at Husky hopefully "So...OK?" suddenly her facial expression changed as she transformed and knocked Husky out with her voice.

I took no part in dressing Husky up not that Nana would let us help her as she dressed up Husky in a long dress and flowers.

"See, I told you!" Nana said to Cooro.

"Yeah, it's pretty" he agreed. Suddenly Husky woke up. By then of course everyone was helping. Husky jolted up and checked his pants to see if they were still there.

"HEY!" he turned to Nana "why am I in these clothes?" he asked her angrily.

"Because it'd be easier for you if..." but Husky stopped her.

"Cooro" He turned to him. Cooro looked confused. "STRIP" Husky yelled grabbing Cooro and stripped. Nana's face turned red as Huksy announced to her "SEE? I'm a GUY!"

Nana started screaming as Senri started to strip as well. I started to laugh as I over heard Husky and Cooro. "Why did I have to?" asked Cooro. "I can't do it alone" Husky said blushing.

"Really? You're really a boy?" she asked.

"Really, it's not a secret or anything!" Husky growled.

"Senri! Stop!" I realized that I forgot about our little problem bear when I was calming Nana down.

"but you never bathe with Cooro and Senri" Nana voiced.

"You forget I'm in the water most of the day catching fish" He sighed.

"OH yeah!" Nana said with Cooro.

"Oh yeah?" Husky hit Cooro then I guess he noticed the problem bear Senri dressing again.

"What happened?" Husky asked me.

"he started to strip." I said "when you got mad at me for stripping at the river I thought you would get mad at Senri" I said as I held Senri's shirt out for him to wear and his poncho draped over my arm. I helped Senri put the poncho on and used that time to study the beads in his hair to see if it matched my own or the other Kim-un-kur's like Kesti (_do you remember Kesti from the first chapter?_). They didn't match any ones.

"Close" Senri said in his monotone voice. I unknowingly was too close to him when I was looking at the beads since my body was pressed against his.

"Sorry" I started to back up when I smelled very faintly something. It smelled like my blade though it was over lapped with other scents many times over. This time though I voluntarily got close and started to sniff around for that smell. I found it on a bead or a couple of beads. By my foster mother's knowledge she had told me it was my grandfather's scent. I stayed there holding on to Senri as the carrier of my grandfather's scent when Husky coughed loudly.

"Are you two gonna stay like that for ever? We have to move more to the south since we can't stay here anymore" Husky said. Nana was blushing though something told me it wasn't due to Cooro and Husky stripping.

"Sorry" I got off Senri and picked up my bag that fell off as I got up when I felt a slightly wet feeling on my cheek.

"Senri!" Husky yelled.

It was Senri...licking me? He stared at me I guess he felt my sadness for a family member I never met.

"Thanks" I wiped me cheek and pretend to yawn to allow a couple tears.

"Let's go, we should go to the further south and maybe the ocean" Cooro said as he went off.

"Cooro wait up!" we followed him.

#^8^# &*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*& -_-

We were a couple days south from the town we just left when we got to a steamy mountainous place.

"What is this? There is so much steam!" Cooro said as we walked though the path.

"and it smells funny too" Nana complained. Unknowingly I accidentally fell into a pool of warm almost hot water and found eggs steaming in the water.

"Look at this" I called to everyone. "Eggs!"

"hm..let's go" Husky said as we kept walking. Finally we got to a town with a banner saying: Bubbly, The Hot Springs city.

"Hot Springs?" Cooro asked.

"It's a hot water spring. Bathing in it is good for your body." Husky told us.

"Ohh, I wanna try!" Cooro said excitedly with a large grin on his face.

"Mee tooooo!" Nana leaped up then she slumped her shoulders. "Actually never mind" She shook her head.

"Why? It sounds like fun!" Cooro said surprised, Husky wore an expression of surprise as well.

"it's not scary right?" Cooro asked Husky.

"I don't think so" Husky sweat ed.

"I'll protect you Nana" I patted her back when we heard a familiar voice.

"Is that you Senri? And Nana, Cooro, Husky and Lumi!" Rose waved us over happily.

"Rose!" I waved back as we went over to where she was selling her trinkets and badges.

"Are you selling these here?" asked Cooro as we walked over. She nodded.

"the people here are pretty loose with their money since they came out of the springs all relaxed and such." she said showing us some new things in her box.

"Did you go into the Hot springs yet?" I asked.

"No, not yet." she shook her head.

"Umm..theres and empty hot spring over there. There's an inn too. Please come!" a boy said kindly.

"Sounds good! Want to go?" she asked us.

"Yeah" I nodded but then looked at Nana who looked to be debating something.

"Sounds great! Lets go!" she yelled after thinking for a while. When we got to the springs it was really empty...I mean deserted. There wasn't even a single customer there.

"Do you own this place?" Husky asked.

"It really is empty! Maybe cause it's on way on the edge." Cooro said bluntly and ignoring the feelings of the boy and old man.

We entered the inn and the boy started asking us "you'll stay overnight right? It's 10 gillers per person per night." he looked at us hopefully.

"That's cheap" Rose commented.

"Well it is falling apart" Husky looked the place over and looked at the cracks in the walls that ran from the floor to the ceiling.

"But, But our springs have the best 'Water of Beauty' in the whole city" the boy said as the old man agreed.

"Water of beauty!" Nana's eyes sparkled as she said that. We were shown where to go though I doubted that there really was such a thing called Water of Beauty.

"You'll go too right Husky cause it's not a bath" Cooro grinned.

"Yeah" Husky mumbled.

"We'll go over on this side" Rose said opening the women's door.

"Don't dare peek!" Nana exclaimed.

"who would?" Husky growled "I hate girls"

"You hate me?" I asked.

"No! Just...never mind" he growled.

I laughed and entered after Rose and Nana. We changed and when we got into the area we heard the boys yelling.

"the boys are so noisy" Rose laughed "but it sounds like they're having fun" we entered the water being careful of the overly hot areas.

"you have a scar" I pointed to her shoulder wing.

"oh this? A lot happens when you're a +anima...what about you? That large scar" she pointed to my own scar on my leg.

"it was hunting season a couple years back. When I was in the wolf pack...a friend and I were hunting and we were caught. My friend died but...yeah" I shrugged.

"Do you ever wish you were never a + anima?" asked Rose.

"No, I'm proud of it" I said.

"hm...I've never wished I wasn't a +anima...since I'm the only one who can protect my little brother." said Rose curling up slightly.

"I didn't want to come into the springs since my marks are so big." sighed Nana.

"I try not to show my markings around people too...they won't feel worried or nervous this way" Rose told us.

"Can you tell Cooro and Senri that? They're always transforming for every little thing! Lumi too!" she looked at me.

I shrugged, I've never had to be careful about showing off my markings in the pack, I guess it had become a habit to not really care.

"Hmm. I don't think either would listen to me" Rose said with a sweatdrop "And Lumi probably has a habit..don't you? You know of not hiding your markings". I nodded.

"Cooro always shows off his markings all the time but mine aren't fashionable..." Nana started a topic on fashion. I wasn't into things like that so I moved away and called to the boys.

"What'cha doing?" I asked.

"Husky's mad" Cooro laughed.

"Let me guess. His tail came out?"

"yep..wha!" a large splash was heard and then Husky's voice.

"Hows the water?" asked Husky.

"Good, it's warm" we continued a conversation till it was time to get out as I was getting dizzy.

"Sorry but I'm getting dizzy" I said standing up and leaving the hot springs. I headed to my room to take a short nap. It felt like wildfire was passing though my body as the heat lingered and my mind was blurred. I wasn't half way to my room when I sank to my knees. I should have gotten out when my head started to hurt

"Are you ok?" I heard Rose from behind me.

"hmm..yeah I just need some sleep" I said forcing to get back on my feet I went to my room and crouched on the floor and slept ignoring the bed.

I woke to a loud scream from Nana. Groggy and with sleep in my eyes I went over to the dining area to see what was the matter.

"I saw it, it was all hairy and big as a small hill!" Nana yelled furiously.

"A bear?" Cooro suggested. I noticed Senri giving Cooro a small glare.

"No..it's a +anima" the boy said.

"What happened?" I asked startling everyone with my sudden appearance.

"Nana was attacked in the hot springs" Husky explained.

"and it was a bear? Or a +anima?" I asked after hearing both not so clearly.

"it's a +anima." the boy declared.

"If this keeps up I'll just have to hire someone to hunt it down" the old man said. Anger boiled my blood when I heard that phrase.

"we don't have any money but there is nothing we can do" the little boy sighed.

"NO!" I yelled "we'll get rid of it." I said with a growl and a hint of hostility. The others probably knew why I was acting like this.

"If we do will you let us stay for free?" Cooro asked.

"You kids can do that?" the boy and the old man asked us.

"Sure" Cooro grinned.

"I guess so then" the old man and the boy exchanged looks of doubt.

At the Hotspring...

"LUMI! COORO what are you two thinking? Lumi" Nana turned to me. "I thought you were against hurting and chasing +Anima or anumals other than for food and protection!" Nana yelled angrily.

"Nana..." I tried to explain but Husky cut me off "Shut-up" he said cooly to the distressed Nana.

"ROSE! SENRI tell them, how can you not care!" she turned to the other two.

"NANA!" I yelled "LISTEN TO ME!" I growled angrily "do you really think I'm going to harm this thing? +anima or not? Plus if it were hunters then...it will not get out of this unharmed. He'll either get killed or sold off so it's better it we ask it to leave." I told her.

"Oh...I see" Nana quieted.

"And luckily I thought about the pay thing so fast, now we don't have to pay too!" Cooro grinned.

"Making a profit off this...you two" Nana sighed.

"I wonder what animal he is though" Husky wondered aloud.

"A bear?" Nana asked.

Senri grabbed some hair from a rock and looked at it closely. "Hair?" Cooro asked looking at the fur/hair left on the rock.

"Bison" Senri said after looking at it for a longer time.

"A cow?" Nana asked.

"Not quite" I laughed "a wild cow if you want to call it that."

We hid waiting for the right moment and for the bison +anima to come. We waited ten minutes then twenty, slowly it was about 11 or 12 at night when we finally saw a figure in the mist. We waited for it to enter the water. I jumped out transforming half way. Senri as well with his bear arm.

I dodged it's headbutt but Senri wasn't as lucky as he was flung into the water where everyone was waiting.

"Trying to chase me out huh? I won't let you. I HAVE A RIGHT TO BATHE IN THE HOTSPRINGS TOO!" he yelled furiously as he charged. Yeah, he was definitely a bison. Changing all the way I howled loudly into the night sky ceasing all movement. Rose gasped, this was the first time she saw me in this form not that Cooro, Husky, Nana and Senri saw me like this all the time.

"Cooro!" I bounded over to where Cooro fell over and stepped in between him and the +anima. "I advise you to calm down" I growled.

"P...+anima?" he stopped rampaging just when Senri tackled him from behind. Together they fell into a pool of hot water.

"HOT! HOT HOT HOT!" the bison +anima yelled "This place is hot let go!" though Senri seemed to be unaffected. We got him and Senri out and he sprawled out on the rock.

"You ok mister?" Cooro asked.

"Huh? Wait you are all just kids. And you're +anima?" the man asked.

"yup" Cooro nodded with a happy grin, then he frowned when he saw a gash on the man's shoulder. "That looks painful" Cooro commented.

"yeah, I got hurt in my +anima form...injuries heal faster when you stay in the form you were hurt in and the water here was good for it" he sulked.

We were all silent.

"Did the innkeeper ask you to do this?" the man asked.

"uh, he was saying he was going to hunt you down!" Nana yelled with concern.

"You should run away!" Cooro also said with the same concern on his face.

"My cut is almost healed, I don't need the springs anymore so I'll go" he said giving us a broad smile. "Take care you guys" he said giving us a last wave good bye.

"So Lumi...since when could you turn into a full wolf?" asked Rose in the dawn light.

"Since I was eight." I grinned "Surprised?" I asked

she shook her head "you are full of surprises".

"Thanks" I rolled my eyes and we laughed together.

In the morning...

"the +anima left?" the old man and the boy were happily laughing and clapping. "here's your money back as we promised." the old man handed Husky back all the money we had paid him last evening.

Cooro stuck out his hand "That's not enough, give us more" he said shamelessly.

"Cooro! You" Nana whispered.

"he left for us...we have to do at least this much" Cooro whispered back before he started to blackmail the old man. We left with more money than yesterday.

"Rose are you going to the next city? Let's go together" Cooro invited her.

"OK Let's go!" She nodded.


	5. Chapter 5

It was afternoon when we got to the next town. Rose was with us on this journey to...Maggie Vil? Rose entered a shop saying she was looking for a place to sell her buttons there, while we waited outside.

"This is a village?" Nana asked watching a cat pass by. "This is a Megalopolis!" she exclaimed.

"yeah" Cooro agreed watching the people passing by, friendly waves were exchanged with some as others seemed in a grouchier mood.

"What a ridiculous name, villages are in the country." Nana still seemed stunned though I thought the name was ridiculous when we saw the stone walls surrounding the place and the fancy town name plate mounted on the bridge of the wall creating an entrance.

"I guess" Husky didn't seem to be as shocked as Cooro and Nana as if he had seen many big cities before, but then again, Husky did seem to know more about the world than we did, even though Senri and I were the oldest. I thought back and realized that Rose didn't seem to be shocked at the size of the city.

Suddenly a voice behind us started to speak, most likely to us "you kids are new here aren't you." it was more of a statement than a question. "I bet you want to know why this is called a village." he asked as if he had eavesdropped on our conversation.

"Yeah yeah!" Cooro nodded with enthusiasm. I too was curious as to why such a big city would be called a village.

"I guess it must have been 50 years ago, a village was built around a woman called Maggie, they then named the village 'Maggie Vil' after her" the old man told us. It made sense what the man was saying "Even though this place had grown, it's still called Maggie Vil. Even now the leader of out town is a female descendant from the first Maggie and she's always named Maggie too" he finished.

"Wow" said Cooro looking amazed at the short but significant history that lay as the foundation for the city or village.

"So that's why" Nana nodded understanding the importance of the name.

"10 Billers for explaining" the old name said shaking his cup in front of us.

"She must be impressive if they named the village after her." Cooro started ignoring the old man.

"Probably more like a witch, they must have been to scared to say no" Husky growled angrily at Cooro just as Rose came out from the store. By now we forgot about the old man.

"Thanks for waiting you guys" she smiled.

"Rose did you sell anything?" asked Nana as she a Cooro walked up toward her.

"yeah, he said he's sell them in the store" Rose smiled a victory when she seemed to have noticed Husky giving her a glare.

"Husky's glaring at me" Rose whispered to Nana and myself.

"yeah, don't worry about it, Husky hates girls" Nana sighed.

"oh, he must've been hurt by a girl then" Rose thought aloud. Nana flinched looking worried. She looked over her shoulder and stared at Husky.

"What? I didn't do anything!" Husky defended himself.

"Neither did I!" yelled Nana.

"I made quite a bit" Rose said as she counted the bills in her wallet "so I'll buy my little brother a present." she declared with a faint smile.

"what's your little brother like?" Nana asked her. Cooro joined in.

"he looks like Senri right?" he asked.

"His name is Pinion" Rose started looking off into the distance "he doesn't look like Senri, but like Senri he is quiet, and very kind...he the type that you want to take care of". As she said this I looked over at Senri with a puzzled look, did Senri seem like the type of person you wanted to take care of? He stared back and I shook my head.

"ohh. Is he cute?" Nana asked, though everyone stared at her when she said this.

"of course!" Rose smiled as she got her backpack together. "I wish I could live with him but he's very weak so a relative is taking care of him. Our parents are gone so I have to earn money instead" she told us. It seemed like we were all warming up to each other slowly. We nodded in understanding when suddenly a loud roar came from the Colosseum a couple blocks away.

"Wh-what?" Nana stuttered as she looked towards the building.

A group of three men were chatting away about betting.

"the Colosseum, it's right in the middle of town and it's Maggie Vil's main attraction" the old man told us though again we didn't ask for his explanation.

"Colosseum?...sounds fun! Let's go!" Cooro decided for us. I also thought it sounded fun so I nodded eagerly though Nana seemed confused as to what a Colosseum was, I also was wondering what a Colosseum was as well and Husky seemed to object fully.

When we got there the man at the entrance asked for money.

"What? We have to pay to get in?" asked Cooro with a frown. The man answered like it was obvious, and I started to wonder if this was the reason Husky didn't want to go.

"so let's leave" Husky said looking pleased that we wouldn't be going into the Colosseum. Cooro sighed with his face full of thought. He then looked up with a grin.

"I'll just go from above..." before Cooro could finish his thought Husky and Nana were on him scolding him about the mis-use of his +anima powers.

Senri and I just watched them when footsteps came toward us. "Hey you there" a man called to us. "you're a Kim-un-kur right? If you wanna join a match, I'll pay for you" the man said in an strangely friendly way.

"A match?" Cooro asked. I too wondered what this Match this was.

"It's what you call a fight in the Colosseum, you didn't know that?" he asked us. Cooro and I shook our heads.

"you have to fight to the death right?" Husky asked the morbid question. I growled, his man was asking Senri to fight in a Death match? If a match was a fight then I knew what a Death match was, within the pack, there used to be some brave idiot who challenged the Alpha male, this usually resulted in a death match or with the losing wolf severely wounded and left to fend for itself.

"No no" the man laughed "that's not allowed. If you kill or heavily injure your opponent you will lose and also you have to pay a fine and or do some heavy labor" he smiled "And also, if you win you get 1000 Gillers as a prize"

"1000 Gillers?" the three exclaimed. That was a large sum of money..right? I looked to Senri but he had his same stone face as usual. I jumped when he looked to me and shrugged.

"But" the man continued "the entrance fee is 100 gillers. I'm a scout and I'll pay the fee and get you an attendant but if you win we split 50-50, how about that?" he latched onto Senri's arm "Come this way please"

"No!" Husky yelled.

"You can't take Senri!" Nana screamed. I decided it wasn't good so I latched onto Senri's other arm and dragged him from the strange man's grasp. Together we all ran away. After turning several corners we came to a rushed stop.

"that was close, if Senri had to fight..." Nana shuddered.

"He'd get out his claws and hurt somebody" Husky sighed. I hit my fist into my open palm in realization. So that was why the two were yelling so loudly, if Senri had hurt someone then we would have to pay a fine.

"Senri, listen up, don't follow strangers" Nana scolded then turned to me. "That applies to you too Lumi" She frowned. I nodded and noticed everyone looked kind of down.

"So they'll give us money" Cooro mumbled.

"Well yeah, If we had 1000 Gillers, we could buy mountains of these clothes" Nana looked at a store filled with the same frilly rough fabric Nana had once made me wear. From that exact store a girl came out, she reminded me of Nana in clothing but unlike Nana's fair hair, this girl had black hair and two black stars under her eyes around her cheekbones.

She gave us a glance, twirled and then left.

"She..must be rich" Cooro said staring after her.

"H-hmph, so what? I'm going to marry a handsome and rich man someday...a Prince!" Nana declared. I gave a chuckle as she and Husky started to fight.

"I wonder if children can join" Cooro asked aloud.

"Join what?" I asked him.

"The fight, since you can't be hurt or killed right? So I can just fly away if it looks bad" he smiled happily.

"Don't be stupid, they wouldn't let a kid in" Husky and Nana scolded him.

"Then I'll go, I mean it sounds kinda fun" I giggled. It reminded me of the play fights back in the pack since we couldn't get hurt too badly.

"They will, children are fine to join, girls too" the strange girl came back. "I'll show you the way" she smiled. I had thought it was just because her perfume was strong that her scent was still lingering but it was that she was behind us the whole time.

We followed her for a time and entered a strange maze. "be careful not to get lost, it's like a maze here" she warned us.

"Wow" Cooro seemed impressed at how the girl was able to lead us without getting lost. I started to wonder if she came here often, I could smell her scent in the halls as well as some other smells of men, blood and sweat.

"Who is she?" Nana asked aloud.

"Some rich girl with too much time" Husky narrowed his eyes. Maybe Husky really didn't like girls at all. When we came to a stop she opened up a door and led us outside. We were in a hall with large windows carved from brick.

"This is the Maggie Colosseum" she said. Already there were two people fighting and it looked dangerous.

"Wow thanks for letting us in, what's your name?" Cooro asked.

"Magdra" she answered. "if you want to enter, I'll make arrangements for you"

"Are you a scout?" Cooro asked though I doubted that a scout could be that young.

"Maybe" she chuckled.

"Maybe you're not" Husky hmphed "But you parents probably are, Cooro don't bother with her" Husky growled. "Being used to entertain a crowd and be betted on...idiotic"

"You're a boy?" the girl, Magdra, asked Husky with wide eyed interest.

"O-Of course!" Husky yelled with a blush.

"Then you'll join the fight right? Or is that stick just for show?" she asked him making Husky angrier. Husky was speechless but still angry as Nana started.

"That's your 'Cooro Punishment stick' isn't it?" she asked with a grin.

"Cooro punish what?" Husky asked.

"You're always hitting him with it right?" she pointed out. We all nodded seeing as he never used it for self defense but as a means to control Cooro when he wasn't behaving.

"Fine! I'll join too" Husky declared, it seemed like the heat of the moment got to him.

"Husky!" Nana exclaimed.

"This way" Magdra started walking again and soon we entered a chamber.

"Mr Baum" she called to a middle aged man.

"Miss Magdra!" the man Mr. Baum looked surprised.

"Miss?" Cooro asked as to why the man was being formal.

"you didn't know?" Mr. Baum asked us "Miss Magdra is the Daughter of the town's leader" he told us.

"What?" Nana asked as she seemed to be in the most shock. I just raised my brows in silent surprise.

"I want to enter two boys" she said pointing to Cooro and Husky.

"the fights are dangerous, do you understand that kids?" he asked us. We nodded and Magdra stood up for us.

"Mr. Baum, they WANT to enter, of they win, they get a prize and will have more confidence in themselves" Madgra said and it sounded reasonable.

"All right" Mr. Baum said after a short hesitation "Come over here" he said as he started to lead us away. I started to follow but Magdra stopped me.

"You're both girls so come with me. I'll show you my room" she smiled at us.

"huh?" Nana looked exited. "I wanna see, I wanna see!" she smiled gleefully as she jumped up and down. I pouted but followed anyways. Then it was surprising that Senri came with us as I thought Magra was only going to take girls.

"We'll see you again if you win" Magdra smiled back to Cooro and Husky.

"Do your best" Nana cheered.

"Good luck" I called to them as well.

"Yeah!" Cooro waved back though Husky seemed to be more silent in in thought. We followed Madgra down the halls and to a wooden door.

"My room is here" she told us "Go in" she let Nana pass. Then eyed Senri. "you can't come in, you're too big" she said the grabbed my hand. I thought about it for a bit and thought if Senri was too big then the room would be small for me too so I shook my head. Magdra pouted and slammed the door with a bang.

"we could just go back and watch Cooro and Husky" I suggested. He nodded and as we started to turn a voice called to us.

"Hey! You two!" I jumped in surprise and looked at the two shady looking men. "what're you doing here, you're not allowed here" they growled. I grabbed Senri's arm, if he hurt these two men we would have to pay a fine and Husky would get mad.

"Come with us" they said and we followed silently. They came to a room and I feared the worst but instead it was a lounge.

"here sit and eat" they got chairs for us. I was surprised but obeyed.

"There are a lot of people who get lost in the Colosseum" the bigger man laughed.

"I thought you two looked older but I guess you guys are what, 15? 16?" he snickered as he watched Senri eat like he was starving. "I bet you didn't think the Colosseum would be this big did you?" he asked us. I shook my head.

"here you should eat too before your boyfriend eat everything" the skinny one handed me a sandwich. I took the food item in my hands and bit into it. It tasted different from fish and kind of good.

"Thank you" I said after gulping down the first bite.

"She can talk!" the skinny one smiled. These two despite their looks were really nice.

"you sure like taking care of people don't you" the skinny one asked the larger brawny one.

"he looked like he came from the mountains, I can't just leave him alone, he reminded me of how I used to be." the brawny one chuckled, a blush tinging his cheeks. "hey did you want to enter the fight?" the brawny one then asked Senri "I'll introduce you to a scout" he offered.

"fight...Husky, Cooro" he murmured then stood up. "I will..." he nodded.

"Yeah?" the brawny one also stood up "then follow me!" he grinned looking happy to help.

"Can I?" I asked standing as well. There was silence before the brawny one nodded "yeah, but you can change your mind any time you want, I mean you don't have to enter just cause your boyfriend is"

"still" I followed Senri and the brawny man out. On the way I thought I smelled Rose but found that it was just a boy.

"Rose?" I called, the boy looked at me.

"Rose?" Senri asked me and looked at the boy.

"Pinion" I shook my head as I remembered Rose told us about her little brother. Suddenly yelling came from down the hall, probably looking for a boy. I then looked at a frightened Pinion. Almost like it was an instinct, Pinion came over to Senri and I and sat the bottom of the stairs, hiding behind Senri.

Two men in white cloaks came from the hall "Pinion!" they yelled looking at the frightened boy. I frowned as Pinion looked even more scared. I scooped Pinion up in my arms and growled at the two men.

"He doesn't like it" Senri growled. I was surprised that he could say a sentence that long.

"What?" the two men asked looking furious. With Pinion I ran away Senri followed leaving the angry men in the dust. We entered a storage room and lay down exhausted and soon fell asleep.

We awoke to the chirping of birds, Pinion's stomach growled and then Senri's. I smiled before heading out the door to find food being cooked. Senri just took a loaf of bread and handed it to Pinion, then to me and to himself. As we started to eat a lady came in looking angry.

"wha, who are you?" she yelled.

"oh, money" Senri dug out a coin from his pocket and showed it to the lady.

"what's wrong?" a couple guardsmen came in to the woman's cry.

"What's wrong?" they asked.

"Guys, they're robbers, they took some food!" she accused us even though Senri was offering her money for our meal.

"Where'd you sneak in from you dirty thief?" a guardsman grabbed Senri's shoulder briskly and pushed him against the back shelf. I held onto Pinion in case the guardsmen tried to take him away. It was like an accident really when the guard who was pinning Senri fell from Senri's greater strength. Senri really hardly did anything except brush off the guard's hand.

"OWW!" the guard showed up his hand gushing blood.

"Why you!" the other guard stared to chase us. I picked up Pinion and started to run again with Senri behind me.

We kept running and came to a dead end, the door was locked. Senri came in front of me and shattered the door with his bear claws.

Outside everyone was there, even Rose though she was wearing a strange cloak.

"Senri! Lumi!" Cooro started yelling waving his hands frantically.

"Pinion!" Rose started jumping down the seats for her little brother. Everything seemed perfect, we found each other and Rose was reunited with her little brother but that didn't last long. In the time of half a second Senri was hit with something and fell down. I tried to stand up with Pinion when a searing heat exploded on my back as I toppled over. I covered Pinion in case it were the pursuers.

Pinion was pulled from my grasp as our pursuers tugged on Senri's unconscious body and pulled on my scarf. Suddenly one of the fighters as informed by Madgra picked up Pinion. I ignoring the pain bolted right back up only to be kicked down again. I was angry as I transformed into a wolf but not fully, ears grew, my teeth sharpened, my nails grew and my tail. I bit the man who was holding Pinion in the hand as Rose slashed his arm.

"Senri, Lumi, are you two ok?" she asked as she held Pinion protectively. I nodded as did Senri.

"Rose!" the voices of the two men from before called looking surprised before they growled angrily "Get him back!".

"Senri! Lumi! Rose!" Cooro yelled as he flew down to us.

"Cooro be careful!" Warned Husky as they fought to get close, several of the fighters were throwing weapons to keep the two at bay. When Cooro was caught by a length of rope with a weight on the end, Nana was the one who saved him by using her sonic voice, however, she did complain about how we we moving too much for her sonic to work well. We were all, thought fighting for the same purpose: to protect Pinion

"STOP!" Magdra's voice carried and everyone stopped in their tracks. I accidentally fell over a person and knocked another one out unconscious. "I don't know who you are but that boy doesn't want to go with you, the only one who can give orders in this Colosseum is 'Maggie'! I will not allow you to act as you please!" Magdra yelled at the party that was trying to capture Pinion, and leaving everyone speechless.

The man with the hat suddenly spoke. "But we will, we will take Pinion back" he said grimly. I didn't like how he said that at all.

"I gave them permission" a lady wearing a cape said while walking over to Magdra and finally stopping beside her.

"Mother?" asked Magdra as she looked up to her.

"They are Asterian National Researchers, I ordered the fighters to follow their orders" Magdra's mother explained. "they will take that boy back with them back to Aster the Capital, we may be in charge of his city but we cannot control the capital, there are still other powers outside of Maggie Vil" she said. I growled and moved closer to Rose and Pinion, if push came to shove then I would take them out side with my full +anima form.

"Tom, Elga!" Magdra started, this causing two lionesses to perk up at their names. "Play with them" she ordered as the two lionesses pounced on the fighters. In the fray of the cats playing with the fighters Magdra led us out from the broken door in which Senri, Pinion and I first came out from.

She led us to a secluded room, the noise of the fight couldn't be heard. "you can leave Maggie Vil from here, it's a passage that only 'Maggie' know of" she explained showing us a narrow passage.

"Magdra..why?" Nana questioned her sudden kindness.

"Maybe she's trying to trick us again" Husky growled in annoyance.

"I just don't like seeing other people do as they please in the Maggie Colosseum it pisses me off" Magdra put her hands on her hips and furrowed her brows.

"a-ah" Nana and Husky nodded sweat dropping at her slight childishness.

Suddenly she seemed to calm down, "Mother knows I would do this I'm sure. And I'll will one day go outside Maggie Vil and see this outside power or I will never be able to relax" she said looking determined. After thanking Magdra we entered the passage, I was releculant to the small space but followed anyways. After a while the passage grew bigger so that we could walk side by side. Finally after about an hour of walking we got to the exit which was from a boulder a league or two away.

"what a relief! That girl sure was a pain!" Husky sighed as if he was releasing all his worries.

"she reminded me of you" I said honestly to Husky.

"What?!" he yelled.

"the Colosseum was fun though" Cooro laughed.

"Well, if she studies a bit more, she might become a good 'maggie'" Husky sighed with plain annoyance yet sincerity.

"Well, I'll take Pinion with me to sell my wears since we can't go back to our uncles" Rose told us before heading off in another direction.

We said our farewells as we laughed. I felt a small bit of sadness grow in my chest, almost like worry. I didn't hate it but it just made me want to see Rose and Pinion sooner. I wondered if this was the "BOND" mother had said humans had with one another.


	6. Chapter 6

It was a full moon and my turn to keep watch over the night when Nana suddenly woke up breathing heavily, I could smell fear and sweat as she sat up looking shaken.

"You ok?" I asked her, she nodded weakly. She looked around, pausing at each one of us and sighed in relief. It was as if she had expected us to be gone. Nana opened her mouth as if to speak and closed it pausing to think before shaking her head and turning back to sleep. "Good night, Nana", I whispered before looking back to the full moon. Full moons never had settled well with me, why I don't know, but with the help of traveling with my new found friends, it was easier to watch the moon and enjoy it's company.

Senri woke up at dawn and we watched the sun rise together before I curled up into a fetal position and fell asleep, trying to catch up with the sleep lost from the night watch.

When I woke up, it was due to the noise the other four were making. It seemed that while I was asleep, everyone had gone to get food. Senri had caught a rabbit, Cooro had some berries collected in a large leaf, and Husky had caught several large fish. From the conversation, it seemed that the fish were for selling so we could save up money for the winter. I never really understood the concept of 'money' but by the way Husky always acted around money, I deemed it to be quite important in the daily lives of normal humans.

"Are you awake Lumi?" Cooro asked as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I nodded.

"I want some warmer clothes, it's almost winter" Nana looked to the trees where the leaves were starting to change color and some already falling to the ground creating a carpet of colors.

"Last winter, I got buried in the snow and I though I'd die. Luckily someone saved me" explained Cooro with a light hearted laugh.

Nana looked at Cooro with a worried expression. "I don't want to freeze to death!" she exclaimed. Senri looked at the dead rabbit in his hand and draped it on Nana's shoulders like a scarf. "Um, thanks Senri" Nana smiled awkwardly.

I then looked to my own clothes, I still had the scarf given to me by Margaret but I still had the same clothes. My deer skin shirt ended an inch or two above my belly button, I guessed it was starting to get cold, while my deer skin pants and shoes covered me completely and so kept me warm from my waist down. I guessed I needed something to keep me warm for my top though I wasn't too worried, after all, I had survived all my previous winters.

"Anyways" Husky grabbed his waist sachet and looked through it. "Just selling the fish won't be enough. I guess I'll have to sell these" he pulled out what looked like small, shiny white beads strung together to look like grapes.

"Pearls?" Nana gasped, eyes wide in surprise at the beads.

"The mermaid earrings?" Cooro asked "I thought you sold them already" he voiced.

"I only sold one, I kept this one for an emergency, like now" Husky then narrowed his eyes "I had matching hair ornaments too, but their gone now thanks to a certain someone" he explained looking away from Nana who stiffened.

"so, how much can you get for it?" Cooro asked.

"Around, 300 Gillers or so"

"Hey" Nana shouted "Give me those!" she asked, her eyes reflected the 'pearls' in Husky's hands in desire.

"What? Are you crazy!?" Husky jumped back away from Nana, covering the earrings with both his hands.

"Oh no!" Nana defended once she realized how it might have sounded. "Just until you sell them, I just want to try wearing real pearls, please!" she asked again, clasping her hands together and bringing them close towards her.

Husky emitted a distressed aura as he warily looked at the earrings and Nana. Before I could hear Husky's answer, Senri tapped me on the shoulder raised the rabbit by the ears up. That was when I finally realized I was hungry. The two of us quickly started a fire and skinned the Rabbit to roast it for the morning.

It seemed that Husky had given in, allowing Nana to hold onto them until we got to town as I could see her admiring the shine on the pearls as she ate breakfast.

Husky lead us straight to a jewelery shop when we got to town to exchange the earring for money. "Well...They're good quality" the man inspected the white beads with what looked like a miniature telescope. "I'll give you 300 Gillers for them" the man offered. After we received the money and thanked the man, we made our way our out while Husky counted the money and did financial calculations in his head.

"Did you sell all of them?" Nana asked looking crestfallen over the loss of the earrings. "you could have kept one pearl"

"IF you want them so much, buy your own! Don't depend on me!" Husky yelled angrily for having his concentration broken for what seemed like the fifth time. I felt a little bad when Nana looked at her feet sadly. It seemed that Husky also felt a little guilty and sighed.

"Nana" he started "nuts and flowers look better on you than pearls anyway" he sighed. Before he could say any more Nana bit back angrily.

"Well Excuse me for being poor!" she yelled attracting some attention from a couple bystanders. "I guess you just look better in jewels" she then turned around and started to run, yelling back at us over her shoulder. "But it's my dream! I'll go and earn money and buy my own ones!". She was angry, I didn't know why but I ran after her, after all, it was still dangerous to be alone in an unknown town.

"Lumi! Nana!" they yelled after us but didn't follow immediately. I had finally caught up with her before she could get too lost.

"Nana" I tapped her shoulder so she knew I was with her.

"Lumi! You came" she smiled before donning a determined look. "Husky is so mean, I know it's true that he does look better in jewels that I probably do but he doesn't have to say it like that" she huffed crossing her arms. I listened to her rant and nodded at intervals to show I was listening. I wasn't sure what the big deal was regarding jewelry but I still listened anyways trying to make sense in my head the big deal to Nana and Jewelry.

Nana suddenly stopped talking and walked to another jewelry store where items were displayed just behind the windows so people could see them. Nana looked into the window, fascination in her eyes before making a displeased face.

"Come on Lumi, I'm going to find a job and buy my own piece of jewelry" she exclaimed. I had noticed that the Cooro, Husky and Senri were following a while back but ignored it as I didn't think Nana was ready to talk with Husky at the moment.

We moved from one place to another hoping to find a job. I had almost gotten a job but turned it down as Nana couldn't do the job for she was too young and short. We finally arrived at a restaurant where we got jobs as waitresses and to wash dishes since the owner's daughters sprained her wrist and the other was sick in bed.

Our first job was busy as we were put to work right away. Nana washed dishes while I was asked to serve the customers. However I was asked to change into a dress and apron provided by the owner. I wasn't too pleased with the dress and the air between my legs, but I accepted it since it was necessary for the job.

"Nana, are you happy?" I asked as we made our way back to the center of town where we had decided to meet with everyone when we had first entered the town.

She smiled and nodded energetically. "Yep, now if I just save enough money I'm sure to get my own jewel" she then turned to me. "what are you getting?" she asked.

I thought for a second. "Something to cover my top...like Senri's poncho" I answered thinking again back to what I would need for the winter.

"anything else?" she asked. I shook my head; unsure of what else I would need for the season.

At the center of town, Husky, Cooro and Senri were already waiting for us by the fountain.

"we're cleaning the irrigation canals and we get to sleep in a shed" Cooro explained happy to have found a job and a place to sleep. I explained to the others about our job at the restaurant.

"How about you Husky?" Cooro asked as he had been silent for a while.

"I'm working too, you guys do your jobs and I'll do mine"

Cooro and Senri showed us the way to the shed where we could sleep. The restaurant owner had given us some food for our dinner just as a little thanks for our hard work on the first day and so we had that for dinner.

That night I asked Senri if I could try on his poncho just to see if something like that was warm enough for me to use over the winter. He nodded and pulled it off himself before pulling it over my head as if I needed help. It was warm and it smelled like Senri, I smiled. When I tried to take the poncho off to return it to Senri he stopped me.

"The night is cold, wear until morning" he instructed me before laying down a bed of straw. Before he could get comfortable I tugged on the sleeve of his shirt.

"Thanks" I nodded before walking over to where I had previously laid down the straw and crawled in under the blanket.

We worked hard everyday for the rest of the week and on our last day we got our pay. Each we got 100 Gillers.

"Thank you!" we bowed thanking the owner for having let us work at the restaurant. Now that we had some extra time we took a walk around town looking around the stores. We had entered a fabric store and Nana looked around while I waited near the door. By the time Nana was ready to leave I watched as she bought several balls of what looked like the same type of material my scarf was made out of.

As we were walking around to look around to see what else we might need I found a poncho in the window sill. "Nana, can I go in here?" I asked pointing to the store. Nana nodded and we quietly entered the store. The store smelled of old wood and animals. It wasn't surprising as the store itself looked quite old and inside was hunting material. I looked at the poncho that was on display. It was longer than Senri's and I guessed it would be enough to cover me from my shoulders to my waist, maybe even a little past the waist.

"Are you buying that miss?" the store owner asked. He was an old man with a game leg. I nodded before paying what I had to and quickly leaving the shop with Nana. I rolled the poncho up and tied it around my waist before following Nana to look for Cooro and Senri in which we found them in front of a small general store.

"Ahh Cooro! You're waisting money!" Nana pointed at the bread Cooro had in his mouth.

"No I'm not! This place is famous for this!" Cooro defended himself.

"then what did you buy Senri?" Nana then turned to Senri who held up two small bags.

"Salt and Candy"

Nana nodded then looked around as if looking for someone or something. "Where's Husky?" she asked.

"I haven't seen him, Maybe he's fishing?" Cooro guessed. After talking a bit more about where Husky may be we ended up heading to the Lake, hoping to find Husky there.

At the lake however there was a loud commotion from two people. In their hands was a net and within the net was a fish tail. Nana started to fear the worst "It that?!" she wasn't able to finish her sentence before Senri jumped in, his arm was morphed and a threatening aura spilled out just enough to scare the two towns people away. Before we could see what had happened to the large fish, it had disappeared under the water. Due to the water I couldn't tell if it had been Husky but I could smell traces of him around the edges of the lake.

"I wonder if that was Husky" Cooro wondered aloud. I shrugged.

"The water hides smells" I told him. Cooro nodded and laughed.

"That couldn't have been Husky, he wouldn't get caught that easily" Nana sweat dropped as Cooro kept laughing. We walked back to town hoping to find Husky when I passed by a store. I watched as Cooro and Nana conversed animatedly while Senri followed behind them. Deciding I could catch up later I slipped quietly into the store. It was one of the stores Nana was looking at on our first day in town.

"Welcome!" the store owner greeted a little too excitedly. I wasn't too comfortable being with this person so I quickly bought the red hair clips with dark pink flowers and left the store. I gave a quick sigh of relief outside and noticed that Senri had waited for me outside but Cooro and Nana were long gone.

"Disappeared" he cocked his head. I nodded and held up the paper bag.

"For Nana" I grinned. He smiled back. We then made our way down the street looking for Nana and Cooro when suddenly Senri grabbed my hand and pulled back into an alley. Before I could question him as to his sudden actions, I could smell the same Asterian Soldiers. We tensed ready to attack if they were after us but luckily they were off duty. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and leaned my head against Senri's chest in relief. I knew it would be bad if we ran into the soldiers again.

"Lumi, Senri, what are you two doing?" Cooro asked. They had found us before we could go looking for them .

"Soldiers" Senri explained pointing down the street in which they disappeared to.

"Are you two ok?" she asked with a slight blush. I nodded as did Senri before we came out of the alley way, gaining a couple looks from some by passers.

We nodded before I remembered the clip. Pulling the paper bag from my waist pouch I slipped a lock of hair behind her ear and pinned it back with the hair clip.

"Wow! Thank you so much Lumi" Nana grinned happily as she admired herself and the clip in the reflection of a shop mirror. I laughed lightly feeling a nice warm sensation in my heart.

We had found Husky later in the day near the evening, however he didn't seem to be too happy so we gave him some room. He stayed like that for a couple more days and still refused to speak.

I laid on my back watching the clouds as Senri was carving something next to me while sitting on a low rock.

"Senri, what are you doing?" Nana asked as she walked up to us with Cooro. I sat up to see as well, curious as he had been working meticulously at the small object for a while. It was a small flower pendant.

"Wow, what a cute flower!" Nana exclaimed looking at the details Senri had carved. "you're so skilled". I nodded agreeing. In the middle was a fully bloomed flower with three leaves from its left, right and bottom. There were also a couple not fully bloomed flowers just below the main flower.

"A pendant? It looks like something you see in Stores" she continued to compliment it. "are you going to sell it?" She asked inspecting the item.

"Of course not" Husky moodily snatched the item away from Nana.

"It's none of your business Husky! Plus you're the one who told us to save up money!" Nana yelled angrily at Husky who seemed to be ignoring her rant as he fiddled with the ornament.

Husky suddenly turned around, stopping Nana in mid-rant. He held out a fist and with his other hand pulled opened Nana's hand before plopping something in her hand. It was the pendant that Senri had been working on on a length of string and with a bright stone in the middle of the flower where there had been an indent.

"This stone" Nana looked at the necklace in fascination.

"Those kinds of stones get washed down Rivers and collect in lakes, I though I'd be able to find one, though it's not a jewel" Husky sighed. "It's a flower shape. I'll look better on you than pearls will. I asked Senri to make it" he explained nonchalantly before walking away.

"Yeah, Nana looks good in cute things like Nuts and Flowers" Cooro voiced. I nodded which was why I had picked out the flower hair clips for her.

"Thank you!" Nana called after Husky. When he didn't respond Nana pouted before running after him followed by Cooro. I watched as the three started to run around. Husky yelling that he understood and for Nana to stop yelling while Cooro laughed at their antics.

I was about the follow when Senri suddenly handed me a small wooden object. It was a necklace, the pendant being a small flat oval with a wolf paw print carved out from the center. I widened my eyes and pointed to myself making sure it was actually for me. Senri nodded.

"Thank you" I smiled as he put the necklace around my neck. I then remembered Husky once explaining to me what a hug was when I had asked him. He answered as "something humans do to express affection and sometimes gratitude" although he was slightly awkward about the explanation. Thinking this was a good time I gave Senri a hug in which he returned. It was a new sensation, I actually felt safe in his arms.


	7. Chapter 7

I stared at the sketches of people posted on a wooden board. Apparently, according to Husky, we were standing outside of the Police station in front of the wanted poster board. I particularly didn't mind standing where we were since I was able to look at some pictures, however it seemed that Husky wasn't able to calm down.

"What is Nana thinking, making people wait at a place like this" Husky breathed angrily as he fidgeted with his 'Cooro punishment staff'. Cooro only leaned back onto the wooden board.

"I'm Hungry" he sighed, his gaze lightly skimmed the many posters behind us. Senri stayed quiet as he just stared out in a random direction. A couple towns people that had walked past us giggled and whispered amongst themselves, some even took a couple glances back at us before continuing their conversation.

I hadn't mastered reading yet though Husky had been teaching me to the best of his abilities. So caught up in trying to figure out what each word meant, I didn't notice Nana until she called out to us.

"Thanks for waiting!" she yelled. I looked towards the direction of her voice and raised my brows. She had different clothes on. The clothes were layered and thicker than her previous ones and guessed she bought these in preparations for the coming season.

"huh? New clothes?" Cooro asked wondering where she had gotten them.

"They look good on you" I complimented, in which she thanked me and giggled.

Husky however didn't look too pleased. "Don't go around waisting money like that!" he yelled. At this Nana had a knowing look on her face as she explained to Husky how she had obtained the money to buy her clothes.

"I sold my old clothes at a used Clothing Store, then I bought used clothes with this money, just a change of look, got it?" she wagged her finger. "Money is not a problem ok? Plus are the rest of you three boys prepared for the winter?" she asked. Husky fell silent as he avoided eye contact.

"er..." he hesitated as Nana started to pull out a scarf and pulled it around Husky's neck. He fell silent once more.

"Whoa, did you make these Nana?" Cooro asked as he twirled around in his shawl. I had noticed our +anima patterns on the woolen objects.

"Fluffy" Senri stroked the scarf after Nana had wrapped the scarf around his neck.

"Yep, It's a present from me" Nana winked before handing me a pair of small woolen pouches, the pouches had one large pocket and a small pocket popping out from the side. "They're mittens" she giggled as she helped me put them on my hands. I smiled as they were warm. The mittens were a dark blue with my +anima symbol in a pale blue.

"Thank you" I said.

"Welcome, well you got me the hair clip and Husky and Senri made me a pendant before as presents." she laughed motioning to the necklace and the red hair clip she had clipped to her hat as she couldn't put it in her hair due to the bonnet like hat she was already wearing. "So anyways, let's all keep having fun together" she patted Cooro's back happily.

"Would you know of any +anima?" a voice from not too far carried over to our conversation startling all of us. I stiffened as did the others, ready to run if the owner of the voice was after us.

We looked over and saw a young woman with a horse asking a towns person. "I'm looking for +anima".

"+anima...what is that?" the towns person asked cocking her head to the side.

The woman smiled as she started to explain "+anima are people who possess the power of animals, they can even transform into animal form", I could see genuine wonder in her eyes as she spoke.

"I-isn't such a thing a monster!?" the towns person backed away slightly in fear.

"Well, I don't know many details yet but..." the woman trailed off.

"I haven't seen anything like that but it sounds scary" the towns person frowned. The air around us was tense as we listened to the end of the conversation. I had forgotten that normal people found us to be strange and our powers to be frightening.

"Why is she searching for +Anima" Husky asked as we watched the woman go from one person to the next, asking if they had seen any +Anima.

"Maybe she's also a +Anima?" Nana suggested before brightening up. "Want to follow her a bit? I mean, if she's a +Anima, then maybe we can become friends." I thought about what Nana had said. I was too far to properly sniff out if the woman was a +Anima or not, and the horse showed no sign of unnatural closeness with the girl.

"+Anima or not, I'll pass" Husky turned around with a sigh. Nana however didn't miss out on the chance to tease him.

"So Husky, are you just afraid because she's a girl?" Nana asked trying to bully Husky into her plan.

Husky growled angrily, "WHAT!". I covered my ears with my mittened hands as the volume of their argument grew louder. Before Cooro, Senri or I could stop the two from arguing any further, a loud commotion exploded not too far from us. The woman seemed to have knocked over a large basket of apples. Cooro, having noticed this before us, ran over to help, effectively causing the argument to come to an end.

"Cooro!" Husky yelled after him as we followed not too far behind, although we were walking. It seemed we were too late to help clean up as they had already picked up the apples, and the woman paid for the ones she had damaged.

We had stopped moving when Cooro and the woman started to converse.

Suddenly Cooro turned to us "Hey, everyone, I got an apple" he grinned showing us the bright red apple in his hand. The two talked again before he yelled again. "Hey! Come get some apples" he smiled excitedly. Awkwardly we shuffled over and received an apple each, thanking the strange woman.

"No problem" she laughed. I liked the smell of her, she wasn't a +Anima but she smelled nice, and I couldn't feel a sense of maliciousness from her. She then started. "That's right" she mumbled before turning to us "would you guys have seen +Anima around?" she asked us. We all looked at her wide eyed. It seemed that the woman had taken our silence as not knowing what a +Anima was. She started to explain to us "They have a mark that looks something like a tattoo or a birthmark, it resembles the same if the animals they transform into" she explained to us.

I turned to Senri "what's a tattoo?" I asked in which he scratched his head with a thoughtful expression. He finally shook his head, it was either that he didn't know, or that he couldn't explain it.

"We have-" Huskey suddenly spoke up only to be interrupted by Cooro.

"We've seen some, yep" he laughed. Nana and Husky were speechless as they stared at Cooro as if he had given away all our belongings to someone else.

"What?!" the woman asked suddenly hyper "Where? Where?!". She started to repeat a couple words.

"Right in front of..." Cooro started and paused before finishing with "Right beyond a forest" he laughed. I honestly didn't understand what Cooro had said and wondered if this type of speech was normal amongst regular humans. Speaking unclearly.

"oh...I see" the woman slumped back, depressed.

"Oh, say, why are you looking for +Anima anyways?" Nana asked.

The woman smiled warmly "Because I really love +Anima, that's why" she then thanked us and left with her horse. When we could no longer see her any more Husky yelled at Cooro.

"Damnit Cooro!, I thought my heart was going to stop when you mentioned +Anima!" Husky then brought out his stick before him whacked Cooro on the head.

"OWW!" Cooro held his head as tears formed in his eyes due to pain. We then left the town, to make our way to the next town. Taking a break on some logs in a large field, we stopped to take a short break and ate the apples.

Nana brought up the conversation "That girl said she really loves +Anima, didn't she?" she asked "Wouldn't it have been ok to tell her?". I had to admit, I wondered why we didn't bother to tell her either, I felt that there was no harm in telling her, after all, she did seem genuinely kind.

"But" Cooro started, quickly finishing his apple. "That girl, she was no +Anima" he then turned to me. "right Lumi?" he asked. I nodded.

"She...didn't have our smell" I explained. "but she smelled nice, and genuinely kind" I added.

Nana cocked her head to the side in confusion.

Husky rolled his eyes and explained to us "lots of people claim to love +Anima, but they could just be aiming to make us into exhibitions" Husky explained. I nodded, I wasn't sure what an 'exhibition' was but from the face that Husky made, it probably wasn't very good.

"An 'exhibition' means that your freedom it taken away and you are put out for others to look at you because you're a different." Husky explained to me although I wasn't quite sure what he meant. Sighing he scratched his head "do you remember those pets we saw once before?" Husky asked. I nodded, quite some time ago, in a town we had passed a pet shop before. "Well it's like we're the animals in the cages" I nodded understanding and suppressed a shudder.

"Anyways, forget it already" Husky sighed once more.

"o-okay" Nana and I nodded feeling slightly bad that Husky got angry. Husky started to walk away and before I could apologize, a hand patted my shoulder as if reassuring me.

Turning I saw that it was Senri. He roughly, but kindly, patted Nana's head.

"Thank you" I smiled taking Senri's hand into my own. The feeling came up again, it was the same feeling I had when Senri had given me the necklace. It felt like something in my stomach churned, as if I had eaten something bad, it almost felt as if I had a sickness. However I didn't want to pull the group back any further from traveling and stayed quiet knowing the sickness would pass over soon.

We spent another few minutes resting before packing up and making our way down the field when suddenly Cooro spread his wings and flew off.

"Cooro!" Husky and Nana yelled before quietening down. This was a normal occurrence and we knew that if we waited or kept walking, he would eventually join up with us.

"Let's keep walking, we just had our break and Cooro can find us from the air" Husky explained as we walked, although noticeably more slowly than our original pace.

Husky and Senri took the lead while Nana and I stayed at the back.

"Lumi" Nana started "What was your wolf pack like?" she suddenly asked.

I thought for a second before starting. "They were not like other wolves" I explained. Nana cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Other wolves live at best, ten years, but my pack live longer. The Alphas, mother and father, they were of thirty springs when I left."

"So they were thirty years old?" asked Nana. I nodded.

"Did you have any siblings?"

"Many, every spring, two or three pups would be born, most made it through to adulthood, some..." I paused thinking about some of my brothers and sisters that were not strong enough to make it though the winter. "but food was good. After good hunt, we would have a feasting, the Alphas would have the best meats, then we of middle ranking would be next, then the lowest would pick bones."

Nana paused "what exactly was the menu?" she asked hesitantly.

"meat, sometimes berries"

"raw meat?"

"hn" I nodded. She looked slightly sick for a second. "is there something wrong?"

Nana shook her head "no nothings wrong, don't worry". We were silent for a while after that until Cooro came back as suddenly as he had left.

"We were worried about you, you just flew off all of a sudden" Husky frowned.

"Just like always" Nana sighed.

We noticed a smile on his face as the two complained to him about his habit of disappearing for hours.

"Did something happen?" I asked.

"maybe" he said after pretending to think before laughing it off "Nope, nothing happened at all".

I didn't say anything about him smelling like the woman we had met as we continued to walk.

A/N: HAHA, I said I would upload soon and well...I'm sorry, and I can't really use school as an excuse because even if I'm busy, I have enough time in a day to write. Sorry, I keep getting distracted by one thing or another. Nothing had been uploaded yet, but I've been trying some original stories but, I can never really push myself to start on the next chapter...same with this, it's because I'm lazy.

Any ways, sorry for the wait, I had this chapter sitting on the computer for almost 2-3 weeks now, and hopefully, I'll upload again before the end of May. My friend has been nagging me, saying I'm a horrible person for not updating regularly. LOL

bYe (^3^)-


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